Progeny
by TrickMaster
Summary: After dealing with Latnok, Jessi and Kyle continue their lives as normal when a mysterious boy surfaces with no belly button and no memory. The impossibility of his origins uncover an untied loose end. Review absolutely no update. Permanent cliffhanger
1. Happy Birthday

**Author's Note: Sorry, this is my first time writing really any kind of story. I always have ideas but I always just kept them to myself and David is actually a character that I had a dream about but I tweaked him a little and adapted the dream to fit the Kyle XY story line because I love the show and watched it recently. Be merciless with your critique, I need pointers if I'm going to continue writing. And if you're looking for pairings then this probably isn't your story. I personally don't like stories that revolve around pairings and like more of the actual story so beyond pairing stuff that actually makes sense to have in the story there isn't going to be a ton of schmoozing. And I apologize for the format. My microsoft word isn't working so this was done on Notepad. And it jumps perspective a lot but I hope to make the jumps clearer when I get my Word working again. So again, I apologize. Enjoy and please review.**

* * *

The harsh looking woman taps her nails on the railing that she is leaning against, watching the object of her interest with fierce concentration. She barely notices the coming and going of technicians monitering vitals and data exchange, instead staring deep within the slightly luminescant pink pod. A moniter beeps sedately, the consistent rhythm of the subjects heart rate tracked by its display. She snaps her head to look at the door as it opens abruptly, admitting a man in a crisp suit. He stands before her, looking at the pod with distaste. After a moment of silence in which the two stare at each other with thinly disguised hostility, the man speaks.

"Gloria," he nods briefly at her before turning about to face the capsule in the center of the room. "I do hope you have something for me. I would hate to think the funding with which we have provided you is going to waste."

"Supervisory special agent Denin," The woman seeths, gesturing to the pod, "I present to you the Neurally Interfaced Resonating Uplink System. Or N.I.R.U.S. He is developing at an accelerated rate. With his abilities, he should be able to track and interface with Projects XY and XX." She allows herself an almost imperceptible smirk of pride.

"Can it fight?"

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Cant it fight, Gloria." Denin is visibly losing his patience. He descends the small set of stairs, standing level with the pod now and approaching it. With impatience he glances into its depths at the developing subject.

"Er, HE can. Or he should be able to. He has not been outside of the apparatus so we have no real way of knowing. On a physiological he is similar to the original two, although likely not as strong or fast. While his physical abilities are beyond those of many average humans, he would have no hope of engaging XX and XY, let alone the two of them together. But his mental capabilities more than make up for his defici-"

"You're telling me this thing can't even fight? Do you think Projects XY and XX are going to just come in willingly?" He approaches the woman once more, standing less than an inch away and looking at her with incredulity. "How do you expect it to get them back? Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just shut this little operation down, Gloria." Before the last word can leave his mouth, the room buzzes with a sort of hum from the pod. The steady sound does not waver, growing stronger and reverberating in the moderately sized metal room. Denin's teeth are set on edge, threatening to dislodge with the vibration.

"That is your reason, sir. With two seperate tracheal pathways and an extraneous connections between his two lungs, N.I.R.U.S. can hum for an indefinite amount of time, breathing in and out at the same time. That is the basis of his abilities. Achieving certain frequencies allows him to establish a lock, resonating and interfacing with XY and XX. I won't bore you with the details, but if he amounts to what we hope he may be able to force them to cooperate."

"Get it up and working." Denin leaves the room immediately, the humming stopping upon his departure. A technician approaches Gloria.

"Ma'am, it appears to be aware of what's going on outside its pod on some level. How do you know it will cooperate?"

"He has no choice. He won't know any better." She smiles, looking lovingly at the boy in the tank.

* * *

2:28am

He was cold, the breeze blowing across his wet body. As he looks around him, he sees green things everywhere. They come up from the ground, threatening to fall on him. He gasps, drawing his first conscious breath. As he struggles to stand he sees hears sounds from the other side of the trees. He couldn't see well in the dark, stumbling through the foliage. The goosebumps on his skin were a strange feeling, disconcerting him slightly.

Arriving at the edge of the trees, he approaches a clearing, a blanket of lush green things with, which he is not familiar, covers the ground. He looks up, seeing the green stretch far until it ends with collosal shapes in the distance. Perfect, rigid shapes stretching into the sky.

He is captivated by the sight, stumbling forward as he continues toward moving shapes nearby. The shapes were dark, shifting back and forth. They were obviously the source of the sounds. There were three of them, standing surrounding a beautiful radiance. He was drawn towards it. As he approached, one moved. It turned in his direction. It looked like him. The same shape. The cold and wet boy with no clothes smiles at the realization. They must know what he is! He shambles toward them faster, approaching the wonderful light. It warmed his body, bringing relief. The three forms scatter, circling around him. They make strange sounds that make no sense to him.

"Lettin' it all hang out, huh boy?"

"You retarded or somethin, man? Where your clothes, man?"

All of these things meant nothing to him. He looks to them, finally able to see them in the light. Behind his eyes he can feel three lights in his mind, surrounding him. They were tall, covered by a strange material. They appeared threatening, invading his space and making the sounds at him. He panicked and ran away from the warming light toward the tall shapes in the distance. The noises from the three things grow more distant as he runs farther away.

4:09am

He wandered for so long. To him it was his entire lifetime, consisting entirely of wandering in fear and confusion. The tall shapes never seemed to get any closer, he instead stumbled into a quiet place of perfect structure and silence. Strange shapes lined up along a central walkway, big enough to maybe fit six of himself walking side by side. Smaller square shapes displayed images on the side of the structures. He approaches one of them curiously, simply seeing more shapes through it in the darkness. In front of the building was a curious thing that captured his attention. On four circular legs the creature lay asleep on the ground. How could it possibly run on those?

He approaches the creature slowly. It doesn't appear to be breathing. Small protrusions extend from its sides. He touches one and finds that it is perfectly contoured for his fingers, grabbing it and pulling. The side of the beast gives unexpectedly, opening and landing him on his backside in the green blanket staring blankly at the vacancy inside the creature. Maybe it was not a creature at all, but another curious structure in the unfamiliar world. He closes his eyes momentarily, seeing in his mind's eye countless thrumming pinpricks of light. They pulse, astonishing him. He opens his eyes but sees nothing. He closes his eyes again, turning his head toward the structure nearest him. Six. There are six in that house. Two of them glow with unrivaled brilliance, threatening to eclipse those around them. They must have been why he was drawn to that place.

He stands up, opening his eyes again. Turning back to the strange thing in front of the structure, he climbs into the space revealed by the opening flap that he had pulled and pulls it again, shutting it behind him. Inside there is a bench, with a hollow to put one's feet. He lays down in the floorboards, closing his eyes and watching the specks of light. Some of them move slightly, glowing a bit brighter but many of them thrum silently, staying in one place. He slowly drifts to sleep, processing his uncertainty and confusion.

* * *

5:30am

Kyle's eyes open, welcoming a strange feeling at the back of his mind. He recognized the feeling. He felt it once before, when Jessi entered his life. Quickly running through the possibilities in his mind, he came to the conclusion of a neural misfire. He would talk to Jessi and Nicole about it later. He climbed out of his tub and got dressed in his sweat pants and hooded sweatshirt in order to prepare for his daily routine.

As he moved to open his door he heard something. A heartbeat, one he didn't recognize. It was very close but slow, likely sleeping. He glances out the window of his room, seeing nothing. He dismisses the strange sensation as an impossibility and leaves the house, jogging to clear his mind.

6:30am

Stephen sits up in his bed also, getting dressed and going downstairs to take a shower and make a cup of coffee to prepare him for work. "Josh, wake up. You're gonna sleep the weekend away." He throws open his son's bedroom door in order to make a noise loud enough to wake the sleeping teenager. Shuffling his feet into the kitchen he makes the coffee and stands next to the island, wiping his eyes. He waits for Josh to come downstairs so that he can be sure he is awake and won't be late for school before leaving, walking out to his car. "I'll see you later tonight, Josh. Make sure Lori gets up." He walks out to his car, unlocking it and settling himself in the drivers seat.

As he closes the door, he stops and sniffs. It smelled like chemicals. Like a hospital. He moves his head from side to side, searching for the source of the smell. In the silence he hears shifting outisde. Chalking it up to wind, he looks in the back seat, seeing nothing. There are small strange wet spots on the seats and floor. "Josh must have spilled something back there." He resigns himself to cleaning it later and pulls out of the driveway, not noticing the boy peering around the corner of the house.

* * *

Opening his eyes, he notices that one of the brilliant lights has left while he was sleeping. He barely managed to escape the larger thing that seemed to be able to operate the machine that he had taken refuge in for the night. He wishes that he could have followed the light that was travelling but there was still the other inside the building.

* * *

It was a nice Saturday morning and Mrs. Bloom awoke to make breakfast for herself and her daughter. She walked downstairs, looking dispassionately at the empty kitchen. She did not usually like to wake up early on the weekend but she had had some strange dreams and didn't want to risk sleeping away the rest of the morning. She looked out the window casually to see... A naked boy prowling around the Trager's property.

She gasps, apalled at the sight. Hurrying to the phone she calls the police to pick up the delinquent and get him out of the neighborhood so he wouldn't be allowed to expose himself so indecently and stalk the Tragers. Must be one of Lori's many boyfriends, she thought disapprovingly.

* * *

He is peering through the windows into the kitchen of the building when he hears noises. The loud and irritating whine hurts his ears, causing him to double over in pain. As soon as it arrived it was gone. A strange machine like the one the other thing had operated moves on the giant walkway between the buildings, going slowly. Elated, he runs to the black and white machine, bare feet slapping on strange black substance. He runs to the window where there is an empty seat, hitting it with his hand and smiling at the tall creature operating the contraption. It moves its face in a way that seems odd to him as the thing gets out of the car and throws itself on top of him, pulling his arms behind his back.

Not knowing what to do and panicking, he does the first thing he can think of. He screams. Breathing in and out at the same time, he screams as loud as he can, wondering if anything will come to stop the thing from attacking him.

* * *

The police officer drove down the street slowly, looking for the pervert that had been wandering around the street. He sees the suspect, a boy no older than fifteen or sixteen. 'Must be a prank. Stupid kids.' The boy appeared to be covered in something. Probably oil or something. 'Kids just think they're so funny.' As he is driving by and preparing to park and get him in the car, the boy runs to his passenger side window and begins slapping the glass and grinning like an idiot. Officer Hammond grabs his cuffs and gets out of the car, circling to tackle the kid and cuff him. As they both hit the ground and the cuffs click around his wrists, the boy screams louder than he's ever heard anyone scream. He screams without taking a breath for minutes. "Kid, shut up! You're gonna wake up the entire neighborhood!"

He smacks the kid on the side of the head, making no progress in silencing the scream. Doors open all over the street as the inhabitants walk out to find the source of the scream. A jogging boy runs by and stops, looking incredulously at the boy. He runs toward him and speaks up.

"Sir! Stop, thats... My cousin. He is suffering from a mental disorder and we're watching him while my aunt and uncle are on a business trip. I'm sorry, he doesn't know any better, sir." As soon as Kyle speaks, the screaming boy silences himself, watching in panic.

"This is your cousin?" The officer said somewhat disbelievingly, nodding toward the boy.

"Yes, please let him go, sir. I'll bring him inside and get him to put his clothes back on."

The officer climbs off of the boy, practically hauling him to his feet. "Make sure this doesn't happen again. This is a nice neighborhood." He gets back in his car, muttering to himself as he drives away.

* * *

His hopes had been answered. Another creature saved him from getting eaten by the other, bigger one. Silently grateful, he watches the new creature. He closes his eyes and gasps. The brilliant light in his mind, it was this one. He opens his eyes and smiles gleefully, having found what he was looking for. They stare at each other for a time and the creature grabs his arm and leads him toward the building. He trusts it, since it had just saved him. It pulls open another flap, similar to the one on the rolling machine. He gazes in wonder at the inside, being led inside by the friendly creature.

He almost slips on the ground inside, barely managing to catch himself as the pink substance that he was covered in threatened to bring him down. As he looked at the new creature with the brilliant MindLight, he saw a faintly blue light dance around its body. He looked in confusion. The creature didn't seem to notice the light. After a moment it was no longer there. The creature simply looks at him quizically before leading him to a room with strange white growths from the floor. They were shiny and reflective, beautiful and pristine looking.

The creature reaches in and pulls a lever in the large rectangular recepticle and a clear substance comes from the wall, much to the boy's astonishment and wonder.

"You probably can't understand me if you're what I think you are, but stand in the tub. I'll be right back." The creature makes the noises at him, the same noises the other ones made in the dark around the light. It ushers him into the white thing, pulling some cloth so that he was enclosed. The thing saved him, so he trusts it and waits, enamored with the wonderful hot water as it washes the pink substance off of his body.

* * *

Kyle ran to Josh's room, knocking on the door feverishly.

"Josh! Josh wake up! Its important!"

"Hang on, Buzzkillington I'm getting up!" Josh's voice can be heard from the other side of the door as he drags himself out of bed to answer the door. "What do you want?" He looks tired, his eyes barely open. "Its Saturday! And it's like 8 in the morning, dude. Go back to sleep!" Without responding, Kyle grabs his arm and wrenches him through the doorway and leads him to the bathroom door.

"Go in there and make sure he doesn't drown. I'm going to get Jessi." He leaves Josh at the door without waiting for a response.

"Kyle what are you ta- whatever." Josh resigned himself to waiting, walking in to sit on the toilet wondering who is on the other side of the curtain.

Kyle shuffles down the hall, knocking on Jessi's door. It opens suddenly, the brown haired girl standing on the other side fully dressed.

"I heard the commotion, what's going on?"

Instead of replying, he hold up his hand, covered in the pink substitute for amniotic fluid that Adam Baylin had invented. She gasps, following him to the bathroom where the strange boy stood, newly outfitted with some of Josh's clothing and staring in confusion at the sudden attention from so many people.

"This kid's as much of a space case as you were when we first found you, Kyle." Josh commented, waving his hand in front of his face for emphasis.

"Probably for the same reason. Thanks for giving him some clothes, Josh. I have to go meet Amanda. Can you watch him while I'm gone?"

"Ugh. Fine. You owe me, boy wonder." Josh grabbed the boy's hand and dragged him downstairs. "Prepare to experience TV, dude."

* * *

His head whirled with new realizations. He saw his reflection for the first time. He was like them, they were the same thing. He was one of the mysterious creatures he had come across. And he knew he was a he, so the other one with different anatomical features must be a female. He was not sure how he knew this, but it just seemed to make sense. The smaller male led him to a room full of different shapes and other things that confused him.

He sat on one of the things, pointing a black thing at another black square. This ritual made no sense to him but before his eyes the box lit up, displaying sequences of images, mostly other things like him making the noises at each other. The boy stared in wonder at the box, captivated by the images.

The creature he noticed was referred to as Josh looked at him in amusement. "Wait, do I get to name you? Last time mom got to name the freak that we picked up. I think I'll na- LORI! Come over here!"

* * *

Another girl walked past the archway leading into the room. She stopped and looked into the room, staring at the two.

"Shut up you little dweeb. Its too early to have friends over."

"No, its another head case like Kyle used to be! And I get to name him because nobody else called dibs." Josh patted him on the head. "I think Destructor will like his name. We just gotta teach him to talk!"

"Destructor?" Lori scoffed in bemusement, approaching the two. "You will not name our new idiot Destructor. Although I feel like we need a D-name. How about David?"

"David? That's lamer than your taste in music. I get to name him, so why don't you go strum your little guitar?" Josh waves his hand dismissively. "If you don't mind, Destructor and I are gonna play G-Force."

* * *

6:12pm

Stephen Trager pulls into the driveway, glad to be home from a day at work at the university. Approaching the door, he hears the voices of his family talking animatedly. As he opens the door, they fall silent as Josh disappears around a corner. They are all smiling.

* * *

Nicole Trager studied the new arrival with amusement as he fumbles with the controller and gets killed by Josh over the video game. "I think David is a nice name. He kind of looks like a David." Now that she had gotten him cleaned up and trimmed his uneven mop of brown hair, he looked perfectly normal aside from his general lack of comprehension for the world around him. "Okay, Josh you have to hide him until after dinner. Your father has been stressed and I need to butter him up before I convince him to take in another blank-slated potential super genius. Oh! He's pulling in! Josh, take him to your room. I'll say you're eating up there because you're grounded and need to finish homework that your teacher told me you didn't do."

"Mom! Wh-" Josh gasps in indignation.

"I know sweet heart, take one for the team and I'll make it up to you." She ushers him and the newly dubbed David from the room, turning to face the door as Stephen Trager walks through, greeting the family with a smile.

"What's everyone doing huddled around in here? And where's Josh?" He looks around, noticing that the game system is still turned on but his gaming son is nowhere to be found.

"He's grounded to his room for some missed homework that I got an e-mail about." Nicole says, putting on her best facade of parental outrage. "Sweetie no, I already talked to him. He's confined to his room and he's finishing it now." She says, stopping him from going up the stairs with a hand on his shoulder. "I already gave him a plate of his dinner, lets all eat our dinner. You've had a long day." The man agrees, and with that the family adjourns to the kitchen where they eat happily, all but one thinking of the newest development.

* * *

After dinner and a couple glasses of wine, Nicole believes that Stephen has been sufficiently loosened. She walks to the foot of the stairs calling for Josh. "Stephen, there's something that's come up and I know its a team decision so I wanted to wait for you and not let it stress you out so soon after work, but," She gestures to David and Josh descending the staircase, "He's like Kyle. Kyle found him today, he almost got arrested for indecent exposure. He can't speak and he doesn't seem to understand much. He needs our help, Stephen."

"Alright," Stephen sighs in resignation. "Set him up a place for the time being, but NO PROMISES. He can stay for now but we have to talk about it before we can come up with a permanent solution."

"I knew you'd wanna help. You're really great," Nicole smiles, kissing him on the cheek. "I'll see about finding him some pyjamas and a place to sleep for the night."

* * *

Why do they wear these peculiar things on their bodies? Surely they offer little to no protection against injury or exposure to the elements. Yet every one of them that he had encountered since his life had begun was wearing these materials. He lay on the floor next to the peculiar sleeping place of the one that had saved him earlier. Kyle. His name was Kyle. He knew of a Kyle but he didn't know from where. Where could it have been from? He has only been living for less than a day. Maybe he was wrong. Closing his eyes, he sees the specks of light, Kyle's glowing bright with life and brightness, and the girl Jessi's doing the same. They were different somehow... He was different somehow. He drifted to sleep again. He had only experienced sleep once but he rather liked it. It made him feel good when he woke up. Recharged. As he slipped away, the remaining thoughts became fuzzy and incoherent.

Pink filled his field of vision. The faint garble of voices, dampened and muffled by the pink fluid reached his ears. A faint repeating beaping noise, and then a shatter pattern beyond the pink. Like cracks.

* * *

3:41am

David sat up quickly, heaving heavy breaths and sweating. He did not remember what had distressed him about his sleep but he did not think he would be able to go back to sleep. He wandered out to watch the image box, being careful not to wake the other inhabitants of the house.

* * *

"He's awake. What should we do? M says the process of removing him from the pod and severing the neur.. Nurr..." The man struggles with the technical words. 'I'm just the muscle. Shoulda stayed in the service.'

"Oh gimme that you idiot." A smaller man yanks the long range walkie talkie away from the larger man, sighing in annoyance as he brushes a stray lock of blonde hair from his face. "The neural link was integrated at a young age. As such, as he developed, removing him took more doing and he suffered some trauma. Luckily, his mental abilities remain intact according to our readings so he should develop at an accelerated rate but we might encounter some problems inputting our directives. His memory might also be an issue."

A voice crackles from the other side. "Watch him but do not get caught. Latnok already had the Tragers on edge so err on the side of caution. Await further orders. Do not interact with any of the three or the Tragers. T out."

"Confirmed. M out." The man known as M puts the walkie talkie in the glove box of the car, watching with Binoculars through the window. "So much potential. Wasted on That 70's Show reruns. He doesn't even understand them." N.I.R.U.S. vaguely turns his head to look in his direction but he knows that they were not seen. "The subject knows that there is someone here but he doesn't distinguish between the rest of the minds he can sense."

"Just tell me when we can nab the little freak. My wife's been gettin' suspiscious and this job isn't worth my marriage." This gets a laugh from the young scientist.

"Its worth your job a thousand times over, Jennings. We could have XX and XY, ours for the taking. Latnok didn't know what they were doing. We can dispose of N.I.R.U.S. once we're done."

* * *

Kyle is the first to awake. Looking over the side of the tub that he has come to know as his bed, he sees that the cot laid out for David was empty. He could feel the presence nearby so he did not worry particularly about the new arrival wandering off but he decided he might as well find him. Dragging himself up and shaking the sleep from his body, he walks out toward the kitchen. In the early hours of morning the light from the refridgerator could be seen illuminating the kitchen. Getting a closer look, he could see David watching an egg curiously. Putting it to his mouth, it is now apparent that he intends to bite the egg.

"DON'T!" Kyle yells out of alarm, startling David to drop the egg. "You might not understand now, but I've been there. That will make you sick." David looks at him and cocks his head to the side, displaying a fundamental lack of comprehension. "Just sit, I'll make something."

* * *

The rest of the Tragers gather in the kitchen for breakfast, finding Kyle and David already awake. Nicole smiles at him. "How was your first night here?" She did not expect an answer. The words were lost on him but the meaning behind them he understood and he smiled back at her.

"If he's like me, I should be able to teach him to talk. We can process a lot of information and if I expose him to enough spoken word he'll probably work it out."

"And if he isn't like you?" Stephen arches an eyebrow. "You're not exactly a majority."

"Then I'll be essentially talking to a lump. If I'm wrong I'll have just wasted a Sunday." Kyle pulls David back to the couch, sitting down and staring intently at David's face to capture his attention. David's eyes wander, looking around causing Kyle to snap to recapture his attention. Kyle begins to rattle off sentences of varying complexity in an attempt to catalyze some sort of learning process in David's mind.

"The apple is red. The red apple contains seeds in its core. The worm eats through the red apple. Apples grow on trees that grow from the ground. Apples can be crushed to apple sauce." David simply looked at him, displaying no signs of understanding. "Jessi, come in the living room."

"What do you wa- Oh. The new one." The other girl did not seem to be particularly happy in the mornings. "What's his malfunction?"

"I don't know. I just kind of wanted to know what you made of it."

"I say we go into his mind and find out." Jessi says it bluntly, as if discussing telepathic intrusion was a common occurrence.

"I don't think that's an option. Any number of things could happen. He could panic, we might traumatize him, or it might just not work." Kyle didn't like the idea of barging into David's mind. It seemed like a trespass that wouldn't so easily be forgiven.

"Do you have a better idea?" Jessi raised an eyebrow, looking from David to Kyle.

"No... I guess we could try but BE CAREFUL." He gives in, grabbing David's hand slowly so as not to cause alarm. Jessi grabs his other hand and they concentrate, projecting themselves into the mind of the younger boy.

* * *

He was not sure what they were doing. Maybe this was some sort of greeting ritual. They grabbed his hands and closed their eyes. No... It could not be a greeting, they had already met. So what then? There were the lights again. The blue radiance that only he could seem to see swirled around Kyle, glimmering passively. He looked at Jessi and saw red light lighting her skin and glowing around her upper body. Looking down at his own hands, he sees a light constantly shifting colors, shuffling the spectrum and undulating with instability. This somehow worried him, but it felt fine.

Before his eyes, the two begin to concentrate. Their colors blend, separating to become a royal purple as the lights surge forward to meet David. His own light shifts to the same color, coming up to clash with theirs. Their brows crease and the lights blend, drowning out his vision. They all slump on the couch, eyes closed in concentration.


	2. Not Broken Anymore

**Author's Note: So there were some issues with formatting and I found out that the hyphens that were separating sections didn't show up in the final post which is why the last one seemed to run together so much. So instead of the apparently vanishing hyphens, I decided I'd put a word because those would show up right? So the repeating word NIRUS is pretty much to separate different sections and I'm going to put that in the first chapter so its more coherent. Not TOO much went on in this chapter but where's the story if you jump right into the action, right? So I hope you enjoy and review please. I've decided I wouldn't update unless I get at least one review, good or bad because I need pointers so I know I'm not just writing out of my ass. And for anyone who's wondering, there will be some covering of Latnok and what happened with them so don't fret. Enjoy!**

* * *

With a rush they open their eyes, gasping from the feeling of displacement. They are all standing in a hallway, painted a perfect and flawless white. There were doors lining its walls, also a pute white.

"I wonder if this is a reflection of his consciousness. If he's anything like us, he hasn't been really living for very long. A blank slate." Jessi muses, touching the walls gingerly.

"Probably. I guess that will just make it easier to find out what's wrong with him and see if we can figure out where he came from."

They wander around down the hallway, things shifting at the corner of their vision and vanishing before they can look. David follows them absently, obviously confused. They approach a door that stays where it is, unlike any of the others that they had encountered. Sounds issue from under the crack and there is a heavy padlock on the handle.

"Letting it all han-

"What's-"

"Apples grow on-"

"How was your first night-"

"I like David."

"Destructor and I are go-"

Among them Kyle hears his own voice.

"These must be his memories. Try and get the door open."

* * *

The three of them were thrust awake, Jessi's nose bleeding slightly. All three of them are gasping, out of breath. They are surrounded by the Tragers, staring in bewilderment. David was humming when he woke up. When he looked, their three lights wavered, shifting and swirling. Barely aware that he was doing it, David stopped humming.

"What happened?" Josh looks expectantly at David.

"I don't know. Something broke the connection. We found his memories but something is blocking them up." Kyle shook his head slightly, blinking his eyes. "Jessi, your nose is bleeding." He hands her a tissue from the side table.

David opened his mouth, moving his tongue inside his mouth as he had observed. "Kyle and Jessi. I am sorry." The sentence was stammered and unclear but the words were understandable.

"I thought we didn't fixed him? We were shut out. How is he talking?" Jessi was irritated at the sudden disruption in their efforts.

"I think he gleaned that from what he's heard so far. Maybe having contact with our minds just let him put it together. Something is interfering with his cognitive abilities. I'm going to try and reconstruct the scanner I used on Amanda. The one that was broken." Kyle leaves the room, followed by Jessi.

* * *

"M here. They tried to probe his mind. What do we do if they find out his purpose and origins? He shouldn't have that information, but XY shouldn't know a lot of the things he does either." The scientist known as M watches through the window at the gathered family, rubbing his left index finger behind his ear absently. He had done that almost constantly since he was a child. Constantly touching the same ear, the same finger. It had been a tic that he could not resist.

"There's nothing we can do about it without giving ourselves away. XY and XX would never sit by and allow us to stake the house. They're not as naive as they once were. Just watch and wait. Next time you get N.I.R.U.S. by himself, inject him with the serum I gave you." The one known as T seemed irritated on the other side of the walkie talkie. He was always irritated.

"What does it do?"

"Don't worry your pretty little head. Just inject him and make sure the other two don't see." Without waiting for a response, T snaps, "T out."

"Asshole..." Jennings murmurs under his breath, raising the binoculars once more.

* * *

David was alone. After Kyle and Jessi left, the rest of the Tragers began to go about their morningly business. All David could think about was the beautiful warm light after his... His what? His LifeStart. The warmth comforted him. The light from it filled the vision in his mind, illuminating the dark corners of his mind. Strange symbols flashed behind his eyes. They meant something. Numbers. They continued to flash, disjointed strings of them. They had no meaning alone. But together... Yes together they create a formula for the dispersion of ener-

As he began to make sense of the numbers, his spine straightened. His thoughts immediately scattered. Struggling for cohesion and order again, he siezed the first sensations that came to mind. The sounds. He repeated the sounds. "Lettin' it all hang out man? Hang out. Lettin' it. It all man. Lettin' it out. Gloria. Can it fight Gloria?" He repeated these words. Flashes of light behind his eyes. Pink light. Noises rattled through his brain, echoing and ricocheting. "Get it working. Fight. Can it fight Gloria? Give me one reason. Gloria can it fight? Gloria. Fight. Can it fight Gloria?" He repeated the words over and over, with increasing speed. Soon the words lost meaning, simply a phonetic string of impressions, repeated endlessly. The light. The warm light. It came back to him. The words disappeared. The light. He thought about the light. He felt something wet on his face. His nose was bleeding. He fell asleep.

* * *

M mashed keys on his laptop, looking feverishly at the window through which he could slightly see the Subject. "Bad this is bad very bad. JENNINGS. Contact T. Tell him there's been a problem." He continued to click away on his keys, glancing now and then through the window. They were too far away to see through the window without the aid of binoculars but he felt compelled to do so.

"T here. What's the problem." The walkie talkie crackles to life with the harsh voice of T.

"I dunno, sir. It pitched a fit inside the house and now M is freakin' out. I'm not sure what to-" Jennings grunts in surprise as M snatches the walkie talkie.

"The chip. Something in his brain overloaded it. I'm trying to get it back up but N.I.R.U.S. went offline. He... It's rebooting. I don't know what went wrong, but without this chip he will develop unhindered and we could lose him."

"Get it back up then. I would hate to be... Disappointed." The voice practically barks at the frantic man with the laptop. "T out."

Lines of white on a black background scroll up endlessly, coding for the chip, output from the subject and changes made to the programming over time. As it scrolled up, characters started to blink out, leaving nothing but black.

"He's... He's deleting code. Jennings, he's deleting the programming. He's killing the chip. Drive now! Drive you idiot! Go!" The peel of the tires can be heard from inside the house. The inhabitants do not give it a second thought as they go about their lives. Kyle and Jessi are too focused on fixing the scanner to activate their enhanced auditory capabilities.

* * *

As he slept, he saw green on a black screen.

Run ? Yes/No

He looked at the text floating in nothingness. "Yes. Run reboot. Diagnostics." After he made the necessary commands, data flashed before his eyes. An inhibitor embedded in his Broca's Area. More placed in his frontal and parietal lobes. Several more in other places. These interfered with his ability to process and retain information, as well as develop in response to his environment. He knew this. He did not know why but he knew this. He paused. Even as he thought this, the thought was not his. A woman's voice played through his mind. He concentrated.

"The inhibitors in his Broca's area will hamper his speech much in the way an aphasic suffers from limited ability to form language. Other inhibitors will prevent him from advancing to a point beyond which we cannot control him. This will allow him to carry out his function without fear of him growing out of control." The woman's voice sounds proud. In the background he could hear clapping. Was this a memory? Of what? Would he even know a memory when he saw one? He has not had any memories...

NIRUS Reboot complete. Discrepancies detected.

A diagram of his brain appeared on the screen that was the entire world. It spun and several locations were highlighted in a blinking red.

Affect corrections to targeted discrepancies? Yes/No

"Yes. Correct discrepancies."

More sounds. The garbling of images and sounds assailed his perspective, overwhelming him. These must have been the things that failed to anchor themselves in his mind due to the inhibitors. Such clarity was foreign to him. He had spent his day long life in a haze of confusion and dismay. He hoped it stayed.

"Corrections complete. Run ? Yes/David wake up."

He started at the sudden change. Nicole's voice drowned out that of the strange genderless voice that had been communicating with him.

"David, honey wake up."

* * *

His eyes fluttered open. "Nicole." This drew a warm smile from the woman. "He lives! You've been sleeping for hours. Its already past dinner time. We kept a plate for you in the microwave. Nobody could wake you up. Kyle is worried. I guess Jessi is too, but you can never tell with that girl."

"Nicole?"

"What is it?" She waits suspensefully for the question. She was still new to him speaking.

"What's a microwave?" She seemed disappointed in a light hearted way. She laughs slightly, grabbing his arm and pulling him from the couch in an effort to get him moving.

"Its a machine that makes food warmer."

Warmer. Warmth. Warming. The word echoes in his head, rattling around and bouncing. The light from his... Birth! The word occurs to him, much to his satisfaction. The light from his birth. Pure energy. Fuel, light, energy output, air patterns, heat, consumption. Equations exploded through his mind. His feet moved and he walked with the blonde woman without even realizing it. FIRE! The word reveals itself in a burst of glimmering truth. It was fire. The most beautiful thing in the world. His first true memory. Fire.

"Fire!" He yells the word, his favorite word. Nicole looks at him quizzically.

"Fire?"

"Fire! The process of combustion of inflammable materials producing heat and light and often smoke!" As the clear definition for the reaction that produces fire leaves his lips, he stops walking and stares at nothing, a look of confused listlessness on his face. How had he known that? Some of those words he had never heard before, but he understood their meaning. Images flash behind his eyes, flitting around the edges of his consciousness. They had a... Feel to them. As if they were simply borrowed. A blue and red light flicker in his mind's eye. With them, he is stuck with a realization.

They were borrowed memories and thoughts. He had stolen... Borrowed them from Kyle and Jessi during their mental contact. The fact that he had borrowed thoughts from them was the reason he could even recognize that the thoughts were not his. That was how he could talk and was able to repair himself and remove the inhibitors. He would have never been able to do such a thing on his own and he was aware of that. He did not want to trouble Nicole with things like this.

"Nicole... I'm not hungry. I'm going to lie down." He tried to disguise his discomfort toward his unexpected miniature coma.

"That's fine. I'll keep your dinner in the microwave and you can heat it up when you're hungry. I'll put your name on it so Josh doesn't scarf it down." She smiles and parts, heading for the kitchen.

* * *

The man called M stood before the raised seats of the Council. He rubbed the back of his left ear with his left index finger in uncertainty and nervousness. His blonde hair was ragged and messy, reflecting his trepidation. The recording obtained from a hidden camera in the house played in a loop. N.I.R.U.S. collapsing, babbling in his sleep and then loss of contact through the inhibitors' communication functions.

A woman speaks up, breaking the palpable silence. "M. It would seem that your inhibitors are faulty. Why do you think that is?"

M flinches at being addressed by the crisp and harsh voice of the woman. "I'm not sure... It should have been working fine. Intervention from 781227 XY and 781228 XX is a possibility. Something caused the inhibitor chips to overload. For the time being until we can subdue him and replace the chips, he is free from our influence."

A man on the far left with a deep voice hums thoughtfully. "So... Your little experiment has failed."

"Uh, I guess you could... It's not my fault, the other two... Yes, sir. But the situation can yet be salvaged. We will attempt to reestablish contact when we can get him alone. Just... Give me another chance." His nervousness reached its crescendo and he began to sweat, eyes darting from left to right with anxiety.

"Get results or be replaced. Simple. That will be all." A cruel voice from the chair second to the right this time. At his dismissal, M leaves the dimly lit room. It is all he can do not to trip over his own feet. He is well aware of what happened to the previous M.

* * *

David's eyes were closed, laying on the cot in Kyle's room. He was sad. He had no memories. No parents. The Tragers would probably send him somewhere else to live. How could they possibly be expected to simply bring a stranger into their home. One that had been wandering around their house naked, even. Plus, he was inferior. Kyle and Jessi had developed so well, becoming incredible specimens. He could tell whenever he closed his eyes and saw the lights on his mental map. He had come to recognize that as a radar and he could use it to detect minds in his area.

Jessi and Kyle were a brilliant glow in his mind. How could he compare to them? Even though he could not see himself as a speck of light, he could not possibly compare. They would send him away. He was broken. A lesser model. Those last thoughts filled him with despair. What if he could just disappear? What would they think?

He needed to stop thinking about it. Whatever they decided, they would decide. He would be fine. Even if they sent him away, he could still visit them. They were such wonderful people and he was somehow drawn to Kyle and Jessi in ways that he did not fully understand.

There was a sensation in the back of his mind. A sound. No, a series of sounds. It echoes, retreating to the corners of his consciousness whenever he tries to focus on it. Maybe it would come out if it didn't know he was looking for it? What was he thinking, it isn't a rodent, its a thought. Neural impulses. Still, he concentrated on nothing at all, slipping into a passive state. He was dimly aware that Jessi was peeking her head around the corner at him. His lips were moving. He shakes himself out of his sleepy complacency.

"Hi, Jessi..." He was still new to speech and had trouble moving his tongue in the appropriate way to form the necessary sounds to form her name but she did not seem to notice.

"What was that. Where did you learn that." She seemed agitated but more confused.

"Learn what?"

"That song. Where did you learn that song? Sing it again."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I was just thinking. Was I singing something?"

"You know you were singing, don't play dumb with me." She leaves the room, obviously irritated.

Great. Maybe they would send him away now that he made one of the residents mad. Maybe it would work like some packs of animals. Would he have to kill her? He didn't know if he could. And if it worked that way why were there so many humans still? Maybe it didn't work that way. That's good, he didn't want to attack her. He didn't think he could beat her anyway. He had seen some of her memories. She was vicious...

* * *

"Haunted by this photograph. I don't know why... Every time I look, I get shivers down my spine. Such a beautiful face. I know those eyes. Takes me back in time, She could be yooouuu..." The sound had finally surfaced. A song. He wasn't overly familiar with the concept of song or its function, but he knew this was one. Maybe another borrowed memory. It was very prominent in the minds of Jessi and Kyle. He had to wonder why Jessi was so irritated that he sang it in a voice that wasn't his own. He was able to mimic the voice that he had heard singing the song in Kyle's mind. He lay on his cot, lost in thought. There is a knock at the window of Kyle's room, shaking him from his contemplative silence.

He sits up, staring in surprise at the window. There is another human he was not familiar with at the window. A male. With short hair. David approaches the window, fumbling with what appeared to be a locking mechanism, swinging it open. The boy outside the window stares at him questioningly.

"Who are you?" He looks past David, staring deeper into the room.

"Who are you?" David asks, accidently using the voice of the singer from Kyle's song. Clearing his throat he repeats the question in his own voice, apparently surprising the boy.

"Is, uh, Kyle... There? This is his room." He appears confused, and rightfully so.

"He's not in here." David did not understand the question. Kyle was clearly not in the room. He closes the window and goes back to lay on his cot, leaving the boy outside. There was another knock. The boy was still there. He got up again, opening the window. "Why are you still here? Kyle is not in here. It is just me."

"But who are you? You can't just wander around in someone's room, creep." The boy sounded angry. David did not understand the myriad facial expressions associated with particular emotions, but the context and his words indicated anger. The creases of his brow and the slight downward turn of his lips.

"I'm..." He faded into silence. Who was he? Was his real name David? Lori had simply called him David. Is that who he was? "I'm a friend. A friend of Kyle's. Who are you?"

"Declan. Now get out of my way, I need to talk to Kyle." The boy steps up through the window. Without thinking, David mimics his voice, something that did not seem difficult.

"You can't just wander around in someone's room, creep..." The sentence was less sure and well spoken but sounded identical to the vocal patterns of the new boy. This gave both of them pause. Could everyone do this? If so, how did he know that was the Declan creature's real voice? Had anybody been using their own voice? Or maybe it was something unique that David could do. His mimicry only met with more questions about his ability to do so.

"Whatever, parrot. Move." Declan shoulders past him, leaving the room and climbing the stairs.

Nobody liked him. All of the people would get mad at him. They didn't know it, but they would all get mad at him sooner or later. He had disrupted their household, he would be mad at him if he had been them. The only solution that seemed viable was to leave and free them from a house guest that had disrupted their lives. This Declan person didn't like him, and he didn't even know him. Then there must be something immediately unlikable about him that Declan had been aware of. There is no way someone would not like someone else without a reason. What has the family been tolerating about him then? It must have been awful.

He climbs through the window, stepping into the backyard and looking for a place to climb over the hedges. There is a low point in the hedges between the houses. Maybe eye level. It would be a high and difficult jump. He ran while he made the neccessary calculations concerning thrust, forward momentum and the angle of his legs in relation to the rest of his body. The mysterious wetness in the grass tickles his bare feet as he runs, making him smile slightly. As his feet leave the ground, the jump goes just as he had calculated.

As he reaches the highest point of his ascent, his is suddenly yanked back by a force that he had not accounted for. Yelping in surprise, he is dragged back to the ground. The wind is knocked from his lungs as he had little time to prepare himself for the collison with the ground. Sitting up with some effort, he whips his head around looking for the source of the interference. There was nothing nearby.

Glancing back farther to the window, he managed to see Kyle looking through the glass, watching him. Confused, he attempted to resolve his confusion by calculating the timing of the force, his proximity to anything that could have generated such force in such a direction and he came up with... Nothing. There was no visible reason for what had happened. Coming up empty, he looked back at the window and saw Kyle walking toward him across the grass.

"You were going to run away?" He seems genuinely confused by the idea. "Why would you do that?"

"My being here is disrupting all of you. Additionally, there is nothing for me here. There is something wrong with me, I'm broken and I need to find the people who made me in order for them to affect repairs." He was sad, but it was the truth. He was damaged. Jessi and Kyle seemed perfectly integrated and he was jealous of that, but there was nothing he could do about the fact that he was not. He was going to return to the place of his birth to try and find clues about his existence.

"I know who you are, David. Or at least part of it. Come back inside and we can tell you everything!" Kyle seemed reluctant to relinquish the truth, a staggeringly confusing concept. Why had he witheld this information? He could have resolved David's distress in a minute, with a few short explanations.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew who I was?" David was furious, unable to believe that they knew everything he wanted to know and simply chose not to tell him. Despite his dismay at their actions, he wanted to know about himself. He had no memories, and was obviously different from the people around him even if he didn't know why. He got up from the ground, remembering the mysterious force.

"What knocked me on the ground? Did you see what it was? I can't think of anything it could have been..."

"I'll explain all of that later." Kyle began walking back toward the house, followed by Declan who had been standing awkwardly to the side, unsure of how to participate in the exchange. David froze. He heard something strange. Something Kyle seemed to be aware of as well. Declan looked at them in confusion.

"David, do you hear that?" Kyle whispered, trying not to disrupt David's hearing.

"Yeah... It's coming from over there." David turned around. Approximately six and a half feet from where he would have landed if he had successfully executed his projected jump over the hedges, there was a sound that seemed strangely familiar to him, but alien at the same time. He had never actually heard it before, the rhythmic pump of sound, the whoosh and the endless pattern, cycling through endlessly. This one was fast.

What he was hearing was a heartbeat.

* * *

Jennings breathed heavily on the other side of the hedge. He had seen the Subject sailing over the hedge, and then something interfered. He was dragged back. Maybe someone knew. Without thinking further, he ran back to the car shoving the syringe full of "The Serum" into his pocket. 'Should have stayed in the service...' he thought to himself, slamming the driver's side door and peeling out onto the street and out of the neighborhood to report their failure.


	3. Humans Are Confusing

**Author's Note: So yeah, I really wish I could get my Microsoft Word back up and running and once I do I'll repost these in Word instead of crappy notepad. And thanks to the people who've read my story, namely Nosside and Mila who have reviewed it. I appreciate the reviews! Thanks a ton!**

* * *

They walked back to the house in silence, climbing through the window to stand in Kyle's room, looking at one another.

"Well?" David was unhappy. They had witheld things from him, things that he had a right to know. Now they would tell him or he would leave to find answers somewhere else. Closing his eyes momentarily, he saw two dots moving away from them fast. He had no reason to pay them any more attention than that. They must have been in a car... Turning his attention back to Kyle, he waits for an answer expectantly.

"Well I don't know exactly who you are, but I know where you might have come from and why you're... The way you are. I used to be the same thing. Sort of. You're different I think."

"You're not making any sense." He was bitter and made sure at least a portion of his spite was carried on every word.

"Well lets start by you answering a question. Why were you trying to run away?" Kyle was avoiding the issue.

"Because you didn't want me here. I heard Nicole and Stephen talking about how I'm not their kid and that me being here was-" He stopped. There was something wrong. He had not heard that. They had been nothing but nice to him. Why did he think that they did not want him there?

"What did they do that made you think that?" Kyle was genuinely confused. He had been under the impression that David was welcome.

He paused. There were more words in his head. "Babies keep you up all night." He said it perfectly mimicking Nicole's voice. Now Stephen's. "But this one's huge! And he's not our kid. You said this was only temporary. He'd only be here until you found a better place for him." He had never heard Nicole or Stephen speak those words. He closed and opened his mouth several times in utter confusion. Kyle realized what was going on.

"They said that about me. When I first came here. That wasn't about you! You were... Reading my memories. How did you read my memories? Was it when we were linked together?" More connections formed in his head. "That's how you can speak like you can after a day. You learned by gleaning memories and impressions from Jessi and me. Thats why you haven't had issues with eating or sleeping and other things of that nature. They are things everpresent in the mind of any human, so those must have been the first things you picked up. Speech was next. Who knows how many memories you have that you think are yours."

This unsettled David. Memories that were not his own? How could he know what were his own and what were not? Was it possible to get rid of the memories that weren't his? His mind was abuzz with rising panic. Nothing that he knows was his. Simply an amalgamation of impulses and information from two other people. Was he even himself? Did he even exist as an individual? He stopped himself. Of course he was himself. Who else would he be? The thoughts quickly faded, returning his clarity.

"Ok. I guess I was wrong to run away. I wonder how many things I know are actually mine. One thing I saw in your memories. Holographic Memory. What's that?" The idea interested him quite a bit and he would like to know if it was a capability that he shared with Kyle and Jessi.

"It allows me to move around within my own memories and observe them from every angle. Maybe I could teach you. I tought Jessi the same thing."

"Can everyone do that?" How could anyone forget anything if they had such an ability?

"No. Just us I guess. Our brains are more developed than most people." Kyle looks sideways at Declan who scoffs.

"Why is that? You're still not telling me where I came from." David wanted to get back to business.

"You were gestated for a prolonged period of time in a pod by... I don't know who. I thought we destroyed the last of the fluid that they used to replace Amniotic fluid in the womb. I have no idea how they could have gotten more and made you. But the prolonged gestation allowed your brain to develop more than normal humans, giving you a lot of abnormal capabilities." It was so much to take in, but at the same time it was almost like it was common knowledge. What else could the pink light have been? The muffled voices. It seemed completely sensible. Natural and normal.

"And how did you stop me from jumping? I want to learn how to do THAT." The idea excited him, to be honest. Being able to affect changes from a distance was an idea that thrilled him. He couldn't think of any reason it would have been possible. Unless... "The water. You used water. Water is a polar molecule." The realization excited him. Something that had an explanation was possible. He could do what was possible. "Teach me how to do that!"

Kyle seems to appreciate that David was no longer angry at him. "One thing at a time. You have to condition your body and mind. If you work too hard, you'll burn yourself out and damage yourself. I've seen it happen before." He seemed sad at that last part.

"Adam Baylin. I saw him in your memories. You were fond of him." David remembered the kind face of the man that had created Kyle. He had suffered from his body burning out before his eyes.

"Yes, I was." There was a long silence. "Declan, I'll get together with you soon. For now I have some things that I need to take care of."

"Alright, man. See you later. I guess I'll bring Trager." The tall male left the room, leaving behind the other two in silence.

"How did we hear the heartbeat? And why was it there? There wasn't anybody there. Was there?" The implications of hearing a heartbeat at that time, in that place, or even hearing one at all were unsettling.

"I think somebody has been staking out the house. I haven't said anything because I can't be sure and I know Jessi would act rashly if she heard about it. Although I also can't be sure that that was one of them, but it seems likely. Maybe they are the people that made you. Do you know who it could be?"

"No... I had no idea anyone was following me. I don't even know anyone who knows who I am. But I guess someone has to..."

"Well we'll be keeping an eye out. For now they're gone and the Tragers can't know that someone else is watching their house. Its happened to them enough already."

"How will we keep them from knowing?" David did not see that as possible or probable.

"Just don't tell them and if they get suspiscious tell them that its just the neighbors."

"Why?" He had not been very exposed to lying and the idea of saying something that was not the truth seemed impractical and strange to him.

"You'll learn. I had trouble with that too at first."

* * *

The heeled shoes of the woman clicked resolutely on the tile floor as she walked through the complex. She was dressed very differently from many of those you would see in the base. As opposed to the simple gray shirts and pants, she was wearing a long black dress as if she had come to that place directly from a high class party. Her dress dragged slightly on the floor, hiding her feet clad in tall heels. Her hair was as black as her dress, hiding half of her face.

'This would not do at all,' she thought to herself with irritation. The recovery squad was obviously not profficient enough in their assigned duties to complete the task at hand. She would have to take matters into her own hands. The council would never allow her methods otherwise.

She approached a door guarded by two armed men. They stood at attention, opening the door for her.

"Lock it behind me." She barked coldly.

"Ma'am." One of them nods, allowing her through before turning the lock on the door resulting in a metallic 'click'. The room was small, with table and chairs against a wall facing an opaque pane of glass.

"How are my sweet hearts?" She spoke to no one, turning to the glass. Pressing a button on a small pad on the door, she smiles at the glass which was now illuminated to show a room with five cylinders side by side. At her voice, through the speakers, the pods illuminate with a soft glow, lighting the pink fluid within. "Six didn't do what we wanted him to. He hasn't been a good son. I want you all to help mummy. Can you do that?" She coos lovingly. "Find XY and XX, and kill your bad brother." From the pods there is a faint synchronized hum.

* * *

David lay awake. He could not sleep, and he did not understand why. To amuse himself he replayed the stolen memories in his mind. They interested him, living vicariously. He had not grown to experience as much as Kyle and Jessi had, but sharing the experiences they had gathered was relaxing. Kyle's love of sour patch kids, Jessi basking in admiration from her surprise stunts. The feelings attached to these memories were enjoyable. Experiencing them from an outsider's perspective was strange.

A thought occured to him. Among the inhabitants of the household, he had heard about a strange collective. Josh referred to it as the Internet. According to Kyle, it was an accessible database containing nearly all of human knowledge. The thought intrigued him very much. Josh also mentioned "scoping hot babes", a phrase which at present held no discernible meaning for David. Surely such a wonderful fount of knowledge could not be so readily available. Would most humans be more knowledgeable if that were the case? The people he had encountered on his trips helping Nicole shop for groceries or going to the Rack with Kyle and Jessi, as much as he loved people and was fascinated by them, could not be considered the most intelligent of the species. Had they not been granted access to this Internet?

David glanced furtively at the computer sitting silently on the desktop on the other side of the tub. Could such a common device grant him access? Did Kyle have some sort of security clearance to access this information? The opportunity was too great to pass up. Getting to his feet, he walked quietly around the tub quietly so as not to wake the sleeping Kyle. He would no doubt be angry at David for taking advantage of his special access to the Internet. He had to be careful.

Sitting in the chair, he pulled up to the desk and began tapping the keys lightly. Nothing happened. Bemused, he glanced around the device for any sort of power switch. A large button in the center of the tower beneath the desk looiked promising. He pressed it and the machine whirred to life, bringing the satisfaction of success. Scanning the icons on the screen, he saw an obviously named "Internet Explorer". He laughed at their idiocy. If he were to hide such a coveted and restricted database, he would not name it so explicitly on its icon.

Before he had a chance to click it, he was confronted with a window. It read "You have 1 New Instant Message. Read? Yes/No. He panicked. It must have displayed his presence to someone who monitered access to the internet. If he did not answer, he would look suspiscious. If he did, he would have to pose as Kyle so as to eliminate suspicion. Conflicted, he clicked yes and read the message.

"What are you doing up so late? :)" The message read. It confused him that someone responsible for controlling access to the Internet would be so casual in their exchange. The symbols at the end were baffling. Maybe some sort of code. He must have to repeat them to confirm his identity.

"Can not sleep. :)" He hoped that would be sufficient explanation to diffuse suspicion. Looking over the window that they were communicating over, he saw the name. Amanda. He gasped audibly. Their neighbor was one of the guardians of the internet! Closing the window quickly he turned the computer off and ran back to his cot, pretending to be asleep in case they came looking for him. Maybe his access had been brief enough so that they would forgive his trespassing. Who were "they", anyway? Would he be arrested? Would he get the Tragers in trouble?

The rest of his night was sleepless, a slight panicked sweat coming over him.

* * *

"David and Kyle, come out for breakfast!" David heard Nicole's voice from the kitchen. Would she forgive him for getting her in trouble for trespassing on the Internet? Surely even Nicole had a limit to her understanding. She would be mad at him for sure. He wouldn't tell, nobody could know. Kyle climbed out of the tub, staring at him.

"Did you sleep at all?" he arched his eyebrow questioningly. He knew. He had to know! What would he think if he knew David had posed as him to get into the database? Even though he hadn't been successful and had been stopped by the guard named Amanda.

"I'm sorry! I used the internet! I didn't mean to, I just wanted to look at what was in it, but I abused your special clearance! Amanda, I didn't know she was one of the guards and she stopped me and I didn't mean to cause any harm I was just curious and I didn't want to get anyone in trouble, will they forgive me? Maybe I can work for them to pay off my crimes like on tv! On tv some people are required to undertake community service for a set duration! Would they allow me to do that? I'm sorry!" He panicked, immediately spilling his guts. Lying would have been wrong since surely the people enforcing the restriction of access to the internet would be on their way as he spoke.

"David. Anyone can use the internet. Calm down. And what are you talking about? Amanda doesn't guard anything, she's our nextdoor neighbor. Nobody guards the internet."

"She sent me an instant message thinking I was you. I thought she had detected that I wasn't you and was not allowed to use the internet..." He was almost as confused as he had been at his birth.

"She was probably just talking to you. People communicate over the internet all the time. I have it set to indicate that I'm online when the computer turns on."

"... Oh." He felt so foolish. Not only had he lost an entire night of sleep over nothing, he could have easily gone onto the Internet and learned whatever he wanted without fear of reprisals.

"Let's go eat." Kyle was obviously amused. He would surely tell the others, and they would all laugh at them. But he supposed he didn't mind. It was kind of funny...

* * *

He didn't like waiting. There was nobody at the house so he had to go with Josh to work. The Rack was an interesting representation of human interaction. The females attempted to make themselves look more appealing to mates while the males socialized amongst themselves, posturing to look impressive. The many voices bouncing back and forth in the air gave him a slight headache. Amanda also worked here. He felt badly about impersonating Kyle on the internet and didn't know whether or not she would forgive him. He did not know how big of a misdeed it had been, and did not want to attempt to gauge her reaction by engaging her in conversation.

The male named Declan could be seen with another female. Blonde hair, a high pitched voice. She was wearing high heels, the function of which escaped him. Why would women focus so much energy and effort on appearing taller than they were? And who would be fooled by such an obvious adjustment? There was much about society that he had yet to understand. He watched the computers intently, waiting for a vacancy so that he could satisfy his curiosity to occupy his time.

Unexpectedly, a girl sat across from him. He had not seen her before. She looked pretty. She had a lot of make up on. He could smell the chemicals used in the cosmetics. He could also see the slight variances in skin tone where the makeup had been applied.

"Who are you?" He asked, not without suspicion. Why would she sit across from someone he did not know? Maybe it was one of the intimidation strategies often employed by the adolescent group in order to ensure dominance. With that thought in mind, he was prepared. Would this be a time where hitting was ok? He was not sure.

"Jaimie. You?" She held out her hand. There was a strange black smudge on the back of her hand. He inspected it curiously.

"D-David. Did you burn your hand?" It was not a foreign substance, the skin seemed to be discolored. He wondered if he should be more sensitive. Would it be some sort of medical conditon? He ran through his knowledge of known sicknesses, determining that it was unlikely.

She laughs. "You're kind of a dork."

He was unsure of her meaning. "I am not a whale penis..." He had read somewhere that dork was a word used to refer to the penis of the Blue Whale, Balaenoptera musculus. He was uncertain whether or not it was meant as an insult or if she had miscommunicated.

"Its a birth mark, weirdo. I've had it since I was a baby. Don't you have any?" She rolled her eyes petulently. He did not like this girl. She appeared hostile and aggressive. But strangely in the back of his mind she intrigued him.

He avoided the topic of infancy. "Why did you sit with me if you do not like me?"

"Who said I didn't like you? You need some thicker skin, dude." Again he was baffled. How could one thicken their skin, and what bearing did that have on such a conversation? At a loss for how to respond, he simply got up and walked away, going outside to wait for Josh to end his shift.

* * *

Jaimie inspected the back of her hand in the bathroom of the Rack. The makeup had smudged. She would have to reapply it. She wiped the rest of the makeup off, in order to apply a new layer. The black number 4 on her hand stood out in stark contrast to her pale skin. It was difficult to cover it completely with the makeup she had been provided with. It was a lengthy process. She would have to do better for Mother. She had scared him off this time. Her observations of female behavior toward males had obviously been incorrect. Her hand grazed the pocket of her hooded jacket which contained three syringes. Two sedatives for XX and XY and a lethal cyanide solution for N.I.R.U.S. She would need to watch more and learn the proper way to approach him. Then she would kill him and secure XY and XX and be rewarded.


	4. Boot Camp

**Author's Note: Sorry about my chapters becoming progressively shorter in word count, I'm really trying to fix that but it always looks longer than the last one until I post it. This one will be long I promise!**

* * *

His eyes hurt. These exercises were becoming increasingly difficult. Before Kyle and Jessi could teach him any new abilities, he had to condition himself. He met a man today named Foss. They brought him to a warehouse to be trained. This man supposedly trained Kyle. David was eager to start after seeing what Kyle and Jessi could do. He was slowly regretting wanting to learn.

"Sequence!" Foss stood behind an projector, cycling pictures of single numbers through at faster and faster speeds while David stood on one hand, barely able to twitch, let alone see the projector.

"1, 4, 2, 7, 4, 6, 4, 2, 5, 6, 2, 1, 5, 8, 1, 3, 6, 3, 1, 4, 3, 6, 8, 1, 6, 3, 1 0, 0, 3, 5, 2, 4, 6, 3, 1, 5, 6, 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 4, 2, 1, 7, 8, 9, 4, 2, 5, 2, 1, 5, 7, 3, 1, 5, 2, 7, 3, 2, 6, 2, 1, 8, 3, 6, 2, 1, 5, 3, 1, 4, 0!" He was sweating profusely as he tried to keep balance while looking at the projector. Foss had decided that projecting them upside down so he could see them would have made the exercise too easy. David was having trouble believing that this was the the easiest exercise in Foss's repertoire. How could it get harder than this?

"Good. Sum!" Foss barked the order, watching him intently.

"284!" He almost lost his balance, struggling to stay upright. Foss will not allow him to spread his legs to distribute his weight. He begins to lose concentration.

"Cube it." The tall man seemed completely bent on causing as much frustration as possible.

David muttered to himself, trying to maintain his balance and concentration as his head buzzed with numbers.

"22,906,304!" He believed he was right but the pain in his left wrist and shoulder distracted him.

"Halve it."

"11,453,152!" That was easy because of all of the even numbers in the original sum.

"Divide by 7."

"With decimals?" He hoped against hope that he would be spared the decimals.

"Of course with decimals. I'm not here to coddle you."

"1,636,164.571428571- ah!" That was all he could take before he tumbled, landing on his back with an 'oof!'.

"That was all you got? Jessi could have done all that standing on her middle finger. Kyle wouldn't have broken a sweat! If this is really all you got, I don't think we have anything left to do here." This man was insulting and rude. He had never encountered anyone so... Mean. Foss closed the distance between them, kneeling on the ground next to him. "You're just weak aren't you? Or worse. You're a slacker. You don't apply yourself and that's why you come up short." He smiled and chuckled a little. "Guess you're not worth putting my ass on the line to train you. I'm supposed to be dead."

David was furious at his constant insults and yelling. His fingertips brushed a rusty discarded nail. He remembered it being there from when he had started standing on his hand. It had almost cut him. He knew just where to stab, and Foss would be quiet for good. It wouldn't take much. Foss was a normal person, much slower reaction time than him. He would just have to-

As soon as he the thought crossed his mind he was disgusted with himself. How could he have even considered something so violent and WRONG? He pushed it out of his head, ashamed. Glancing at Kyle and Jessi standing to the side watching and talking amongst themselves, he nods. "I'm sorry, I'll do better."

"You're damn right you will. Ok. Again!"

* * *

He ran back to through downtown with Jessi. Kyle had stayed behind to discuss some things with Foss.

"How was your first session?" Jessi glanced sideways at him as they ran. It was a mercifully chilly afternoon, their breath issuing forth as steam.

"Awful. How can you both tolerate that man? He's a jerk." His left shoulder twinged, causing him to wince.

"He isn't who trained me. And all I can say is get used to it, because it gets a lot harder. You need to condition yourself so your body doesn't deteriorate like Adam Baylin's. It helps to think of it as neverending. Training is never over." With that, she stuck her left foot out, tangling with his right and causing him to fall forward. He had seen it coming just in time, hearing the scuff of her shoe that did not fit with her running pattern. Tucking his arms and head in to his chest, he rolled on the ground and back to his feet, keeping pace. "Very good. Too bad Foss didn't see that."

"Why'd you do that? How could that possibly help with my training?" He was angry at her for trying to trip him after he had just spent hours calculating large sums in his head while supporting his weight upside down on one hand, but at the same time he understood her intentions and on some level appreciated them. Not nearly enough to outweigh his annoyance however. He stuck his foot out to trip her back but she hopped over it with ease, continuing on without breaking stride or looking aside.

"Nice try."

They ran all the way back to the house, walking into the kitchen just in time for dinner.

"Where's Kyle?" Nicole asked the question with little concern. She was used to Kyle disappearing for indeterminate amounts of time. She still felt the need to ask, as his mother.

"He's with Foss. He just stayed behind to discuss a couple things. Among them, Newbie David's training regiment." She handed David a bottle of water and snickered. She sat down across from him, scooping potatoes onto her plate.

"About that. How was your first session with the Fossinator?" Josh asked cavalierly.

"Worse than the work you complain so much about." David did not understand why Josh would have any negative opinions toward standing in one place for a set amount of time and making fruity drinks.

"Maybe you should train with Foss. I'm seeing a bit of pudge since Andy moved away. Too many days sulking?" Lori poked the side of Josh's torso, making him slap her hand.

"You should talk, Violet Beauregarde. Keeping the baby?" Josh poked her back.

"Enough! Not at the dinner table." Stephen looked at them sternly before asking to Jessi to pass the garlic bread.

It would seem that family members routinely insult each other. This was a confusing practice to David, one that he would observe more before participating. Regardless of their practices, he found that he enjoyed the company of the Tragers more and more every day. They were the nicest people he knew and he was glad they had taken him in. Dare he say, he might even love them.

* * *

He had been dreaming peacefully when he was shot into waking by a mid-sized bowl full of ice water.

"Wake up! You're mine today. Foss is out on business." He cleared his eyes to see Jessi standing over him, smiling.

"Why with the water?" He had goosebumps and his blanket was soaked. He was irritable and tired. He looked at the clock. "3:36! It won't even be light out for 3 hours and 16 minutes!"

"The water was because you didn't hear me coming. For every morning that you don't hear me come into the room, you get the water. But it won't be every morning so training yourself to wake up early won't help. And it has to be early. Its dark when it's early. We need dark to play. Now get up and get dressed."

Kyle was obviously woken up by the commotion, but he must have had prior knowledge of it because he simply rolled over in his tub and went back to sleep.

They crept through the house, careful not to wake the Tragers. Once they got through the door, Jessi produced a bandana from her pocket. Using an elastic to tie her hair back, she loosely wrapped the bandana around her arm.

"This is called Freerunner's Flag."

"Freerunner's Flag?" He had never heard of this game. If it could be used as training, he doubted he would like it.

"Something I just made up. You need to chase me. If you land a punch, you get the bandana unchallenged. Otherwise you need to take it from me." He definitely did not think he would like this game. He didn't want to punch Jessi. He didn't think he COULD punch Jessi. She was even stronger than Kyle, who was also stronger than he was.

She knelt down to tie her shoes, taking her attention from him. He tentatively reached for the bandana, knowing where he should pull from where she tied it to minimize the time required to remove it and the probability that she would be able to counter his efforts. Slowly reaching for it, his fingers brushed it and her other arm whipped past her shoulder, slapping his hand and leaving a stinging pain.

"I didn't say start yet. No cheating. But nice try, I almost didn't notice. If you had kept talking, I wouldn't have gotten suspicious." She grinned at him. "'Kay, now I'm ready." She pushed him, hard enough for him to fall backward before running across the street and climbing up the gutter of their neighbors' house.

Getting to his feet, he ran to the house, looking up at Jessi standing on the roof smugly. Taking a deep breath, he climbed the house trying to make as little noise as possible. By the time he had gotten to the top and swung his feet up, she was already on the roof of the next house waving at him. Sighing heavily and preparing himself for the jump, chasing her.

* * *

Every muscle in his body ached as he opened the front door. It was still early morning, the sun had only just started rising. He was sweating but when it came to running, his ability to breathe in and out at the same time benefited him greatly. Jessi followed him through the door, more exhausted but not by much. They sat on the couch, breathing heavily. She pulled something from her pocket: The bandana.

"You need to get better. You didn't get it once. After two and a half hours." She was nearly as difficult as Foss. She snatched the bandana back, stuffing it in her pocket.

* * *

Between his training with Foss and Jessi making him chase her halfway across the suburbs, he found himself constantly tired. His sleep was erratic and he found himself falling asleep and losing focus. Wanting a break, he went to the Rack with Josh to use the computers and drink smoothies (which he had found extremely enjoyable). The girl named Jaimie was there again. She waved him over, gesturing to an empty chair. He did not want to go over, but he did not want to be perceived as rude.

Sitting next to her, he glanced sideways furtively. "Hello." He was not sure how to start conversations. Ordinarily he would wait until the other person began speaking, but she did not.

"Hiya. Whatcha doin' here?" She sipped her own smoothie, talking in a sing-song tone. He was uncomfortable with her demeanor.

"I'm here with a friend." There was something familiar about her, but also something strange that he could not place. He did not like it, but she herself interested him. Her left elbow nudged against him. He recognized this as some sort of liesurely social ritual, the meaning of which he was not familiar with. Something caught his eye. "Your birthmark is gone. Will it come back?"

"Oh, um. No, I covered it up with a little makeup. I'm a bit self conscious about it." She stammered and he saw the vein on the side of her neck pulse more frequently. He had not yet learned to detect heartbeats, but up close that method proved to be an adequate substitute. He ran through conventional causes for increased heart rate. Pain, fear, anxiety, nervousness... None of them seemed to fit with the situation.

"Why? You said a lot of people had them." Before he finished the question, she got up and walked away, throwing her smoothie in the trash and leaving the Rack and a confused David behind.

* * *

The girl with the hooded sweat shirt and brown hair left the Rack furiously. She had been so close. The needle had nearly touched his elbow. It is doubtful he would have even felt it. He had come so close to death and he had no idea. Her bad sibling had avoided punishment. It was not fair. How is it that he could do whatever he wanted? Parading around with his new family, without punishment. Simply him being there was insulting. She had nearly killed him. Then was not the right time though. She could have, but it would not have helped her overall goal. XY and XX would have been suspicious, and would have their guard up for an indefinite amount of time after the suspicious death of the despicable "David".

She smirked. At least she could have killed him. He was obsolete, and she was superior. She had almost disposed of him without his knowledge. She had already proved herself better than he was. The fact that he probably assumed she left due to something he said amused her greatly. If only he knew. If only he had seen the needle, full of the sapphire blue liquid near his arm. He did not suspect her because she appeared normal. She couldn't wait until he was dead. Maybe then she could move in with the Tragers. They'd love her more anyway. She is better, after all.

* * *

"So I saw the babe you were talking to at the Rack. What's her name?" Josh's voice startled him from his thoughts. Kyle had instructed him to concentrate on the glass of water, attempting to change the polarity in his bodily cells to move it. He had been concentrating intensely but to no result. He was not discouraged. If it was so easy, everybody would be doing it.

"What?"

"The girl. At the Rack. With the hoodie? She was waving you over. Looked like she was flirting. Maybe you could score."

"Score?" He was familiar with the word itself, but this application was unfamiliar.

"Nevermind. You're like another Kyle. So what's her name?"

"Jaimie. She's rude, callous, confusing and irritating." He continued to stare at the glass of water, Josh's presence greatly taxing his concentration. He considered trying again at night when the Tragers were asleep.

"So you like her then." Josh seemed smug, sitting next to him at the island in the kitchen.

"That is not what I said."

"That's what you meant."

"You are wrong."

"Am I?"

"You said that with significant emphasis, implying that you do not believe you are but I can say with utmost certainty that you are." He had given up concentrating on the glass of water, drinking the water instead.

"Say what you like. You like her."

"It would seem dissuading you is unlikely. I'm tired, and I'm not sure how much sleep I'll be able to get tonight so I'm going to go lay down. Good night." He wanted time alone to concentrate but he did not want to be rude.

* * *

He sat at the computer desk thoughtfully. The inhibitors embedded in his brain must have had some sort of control director. It was possible that the control director must have been executed from close by, meaning it was possible that the people who had been watching the house had a portable computer with which they could have easily accessed his directives. But would they still have it after the connection had been severed?

Like Jessi and Kyle, he had an intuitive knowledge of computers and their weaknesses. He wondered if he would be proficient enough to break into their computer (if there was one). He would have to be sure on the first attempt, or else he would give them a chance to strengthen their security measures or simply dispose of the laptop. He would rather know who it was that was watching the house before he decided on a course of action.

The lack of safe and subtle options was frustrating. Exhausted, he lay down to sleep in his cot.

* * *

He was submerged. It seemed comfortable but strange. Rather than the horizontal position in which he had spent his first fifteen or so years, he was upright. The familiar pink glow of the fluid was gone, replaced by a luminescent blue. Blue was his favorite color, it was beautiful. Small bubbles escaped from his mouth and nose, drifting to the top to rest against the lid of the canister. Looking down at himself, he saw something on his stomach. That had not been there before, he was sure. Maybe it had been there all along. It was the number 2, the black of the brand standing out.

Readouts flashed through his field of vision, overlapping with what his eyes saw. Diagrams, some of which had meaning to him and some of which didn't. Among them, he could discern maps of various places, and six pods labelled with corresponding numbers. In his mind, he saw an eye open. It was also blue, almost glowingly bright. In his sight, black hair swirled around his head, floating in the watery substance. His hair? It could not be. He did not have black hair. 'Do I?'

David(?) began to move in the tank. There was room enough for him to spread all of his limbs to their full extent. Even that was strange. His limbs were longer than he remembered. The spacious tank was laced with wires, the thinnest of which bore directly into his skin without pain. They must have been too small and fibrous to trigger a pain response.

As he moved within the confines of the tank, outside he could see lights turn on. Until now, the entire world had existed within the tank. But now there was a room outside, a wide room. From what he could tell, there were several moniters spaced intermittently around the tank and banks of control terminals. The screens buzzed to life as the lights were turned on, awaiting input from whoever had entered the room.

He heard the a rhythmic tapping, similar in frequency and sound to footsteps. As a figure on the other side of the room drew closer, he saw that it was a beautiful woman in a black dress. Her long hair hid half of her pale face, allowing him to only see one of her eyes which were cold and sharp. The tapping was the sound of her high heels on the hard floor. She stopped to gingerly tap some keys on a control terminal. While the effects of these keys were not apparent to the naked eye, he somehow knew their function. She had locked the outer door and disconnected the security cameras and audio input into the logs. They were truly alone now, away from prying eyes and ears.

"Niox. My darling. How is it coming? Did you find what we are looking for?" Her fingers brushed the tank, smiling at him. There was something on her face, beneath her hair. He could not get a good look at what it was before she turned away. The name. She did not call him David, that was not his name. In his mind the letters flowed through his head. Neurally Integrated Organic Control System. NIOCS. "Niox? Are you listening?"

He had never been outside of the softly lit blue tank. That wasn't right... What about the Tragers? And Kyle and Jessi? Hadn't they been real? Or were they just one giant elaborate dream?


	5. Everyone Hates Mondays

**Author's Note: Ok so I lied a little, that last one wasn't very long but it wasn't too short either... I don't have any idea how I managed to get the first chapter to 5.5k words... I'll try harder, I promise! I think my problem is that I use the scroll bar to gauge the length of the chapter even though there's a lot of Enter-Key-Hitting involved in dialogue. And thanks for all your reads. If you guys could review that would be great, like I said in the first or second chapters, I love criticism and suggestions, so be merciless! I'm totally open to advice and stuff like that. And every time you don't leave a review, I die a little on the inside. So I hope you can live with yourselves :P Except for Nosside and Mila. You're good people :P**

* * *

David(?) hummed absently, causing a torrent of bubbles to escape his nose as he did so. The woman looked at him quizzically. "Niox, what are you doing?" He couldn't stop himself. He wanted to, she scared him and he did not want to make her stay any longer than she intended to, but he could not stop himself. He continued humming, the water beginning to churn around his body. He no longer had control over any of his actions. A moniter to his left beeped urgently, demanding the attention of the pale lady.

In the first display of uncertainty, she rushed to the moniter. It brought him a small bit of satisfaction. This woman seemed to be completely in control and it unsettled him greatly. Sparks issued from a wire running along the wall from the pod and the lights began to flicker. It could not have been him doing this, he was trying to stop. With no other recourse, he tried to bite his own tongue to snap himself out of it. He could not even move his tongue. Even his eyes were not under his control, darting back and forth wildly.

His fingers tapped the glass in a rhythmic pattern almost nonchalantly. It drew his attention because it was such a calm action in contrast to the commotion that quickly arose in the room. The woman was inputting commands on the keyboard. She was trying to put him to sleep. Could she do that? '_No. Not anymore_.' The thought was not his own, but it seemed to be a direct reply to his anxiety-fueled question. It snapped his attention to the woman. She was banging her balled fists on the console in frustration.

More sparks flew from the consoles, causing her to flinch backward. Throwing an emergency switch, the sliding doors at the opposite end of the room creaked open at a painfully slow speed. As she ran through, dress flowing wildly and heels clicking on the floor, the door nearly snapped closed, crushing her body. He understood the pressure that those doors could exert and was wondering if it would not have been better if she were at least trapped in the room at the very least.

The brilliant blue eye opened in his mind again. The watery substance filling the tank continued to churn around him, swaying the wires. His head turned and his heart skipped a beat as Kyle and Jessi were floating in the tank with him, startling him. They were saying something.

"- -!" There was no sound, not even bubbles. That was physically impossible, they did not seem to be disturbing the water at all. Their presence here at all was impossible. Then again, so was his. He shook his head to signal to them that he did not understand them. They did not seem to notice, repeating it.

"-ke -p!" He shook his head again, frustrated. He pointed to his ear, hoping they will understand. Then he felt a sharp sting on his cheek causing him to wince.

"WAKE UP!" He opened his eyes, seeing Jessi and Kyle standing over him, Jessi holding him up by the front of his shirt with her left hand. Her other hand was raised in the air. As he got his bearings, he noticed that he was humming, louder than he ever had before. The lights were flicking madly, car alarms outside on the street blaring annoyingly. He could hear people walking out of their houses and yelling about the noise, investigating the racket that had arisen in the early hours of the morning.

Glancing around, he saw his shirt covered in blood. Investigating further, he saw blood splattered across the side of Kyle's tub. He must have flailed around and banged his nose. Looking back at Jessi, it also became apparent that that hand was the hand she had used to slap him in the face and wake him up. She got up, looking satisfied.

"A nice slap succeeds where telepathy failed. Who would have thought?" She hands David a bottle of water and a wash cloth to wash the blood from his face. "Sorry about the slap. You were projecting and disrupting the neighborhood's power. We saw a little of what you were dreaming about. Who was that woman?" She sat on her knees next to the other two, opening her own bottle of water. David looked at her clothes and a bowl that was sitting on the desk. The reason she had been in his and Kyle's room was so that she could wake him up with ice water to chase her and the stupid bandana. He raised an eyebrow at the thought before replying.

"I don't know. She knew the person I was. Well I mean, the person in the tank wasn't me. I was just along for the ride around the end. Well not really, I was-" He was having trouble describing the experience, but Kyle cut him off.

"We know what you mean. We tried to link together with you to shake you out of it. It's possible that it was simply a dream, but dismissing it out of hand wouldn't be a good idea. How much of it do you remember?"

"All of it. It's like it was actually happening." He tapped his finger on the side of the tub, lost in contemplative thought.

"The person that we saw was humming like you. He also used the exact same frequency and didn't seem to need to take a breath. That doesn't seem like a coincidence. Maybe the humming acts as a resonating function." Kyle seemed confused by the ramifications of the idea. Jessi straightened, taking the tie out of her hair.

"I'll let you off for tonight. You have to go school shopping with Nicole in about six hours anyway. So I'll just whip you into shape later." She left the room with a last "Good Night" to the both of them.

"What's she talking about? I didn't hear about going school shopping..." He scanned his memories of the last few days and was sure he had heard nothing about school at all. He was aware of the concept, but it staggered him that she thought he needed education. Did she think he was stupid? He wondered if doing something extraordinary in front of her would dissuade her sending him to school. "There's other people at school!"

Kyle raised an eyebrow. "That's true... What's your point?"

"What if I do something weird without meaning to? And does she think I'm too stupid and need to go to school to learn more?"

"No, Nicole doesn't think you're stupid. Here, the law requires you to go to school. Remember last Tuesday when she took you to the hospital to start a medical record for you? The law requires that too. It took her a significant amount of time to find a nearby doctor that she could see that wasn't hers. It would look strange if she brought a series of strange children without belly buttons and no medical records to the same doctor."

"I thought she brought me there to see if there were any discrepancies concerning my overall health and to fix them if he found any. I did not know that doctors held secretarial jobs as well. The medical proffession must not be very fulfilling."

He laughed. "That's what I thought at first. Society has a lot of ins and outs that you need to learn."

"What parts are ins and what parts are outs?" He wondered if it was another expression. All he had learned of colloquial expressions were that they were set phrases used to express an abstract thought in a concise manner but he had yet to decipher many of the expressions that he had encountered.

"Nevermind. Go to sleep." He slipped back downward into his tub, leaving David to contemplate the looming threat of school and how to eliminate its evil.

* * *

"Wake up, breakfast. Oh, and David I have something I need to talk to you about." Nicole vanished back into the hallway, retracting her head from the small opening through the door. David felt as if he had gotten no sleep at all, dragging himself off of his cot after Kyle had already left the room. Grumbling, he got dressed and wandered out of the room.

Approaching the island where the rest of the house had gathered for breakfast, Josh laughs and points. "Nice hair." David did not understand that it was directed at him. Feeling his head, he found that his hair had been standing out in all directions wildly. Probably a result of the excessive movement during his dream vision. Smoothing his hair down, he sits at the island next to Lori.

"What did you want to talk to me about Nicole?" He already knew from Kyle, but he was hoping that it was not what Kyle believed it to be.

"School." She said it almost apologetically, smiling wryly.

"Why do I have to go to school? It doesn't make sense that the law requires an education even for people who do not need one." The idea of school made him shudder. Other people, adults he didn't know, mandatory school and homework. It sounded like a madhouse of which he wanted no part.

"I'm sorry but that's just the way it is. I was hoping you'd go with me to find some supplies for school."

He did not want to go, but the Tragers had done so much for him that he could not possibly refuse, since doing so would surely cause legal complications for them. "Okay, I'll go with."

"Good. We'll go in a few hours. I have some things I need to take care of and that should give you plenty of time to shower and get dressed." Nicole left the kitchen, presumably to go to her office. David also moved to leave, intending to shower and get dressed before attempting to move the glass of water again. Kyle had told him that if he did not continually practice, it would become more difficult.

So far he had managed to make the cup of water jiggle slightly, and even nudge but he was far from being able to move or pick up objects. Nicole peeked her head in, asking if he was ready to go. After she left he sighed heavily, getting up from the floor and putting his shoes on.

* * *

Nicole and David finished the school shopping just in time. The following Monday was to be his first day. Soon rumors of a new student would float through the halls.

* * *

"You're going to have fun, I promise. Meet new friends, be around new people. I'm sure being around Lori and Josh has been killing you lately." Another expression. "I'll pick you up at the end of the day."

"That's fine. I memorized the way here while you were driving. I can walk." He was not happy as he stared at the front doors of Beachwood High apprehensively. Lori had mentioned Hell once, associating it with high school. In his mind, he recalled a place called Hell as a religious construct, a place of torment and was apparently filled with fire. While Lori had been known for exaggeration, he could not help but worry what it would be like.

The other students were standing at the front of the school. Josh had told him some things concerning social interactions at school. It would seem that people behaved very differently at school than they did when they were alone or with their family. Looking around, he saw several people with some sort of black substance around their eyes and lips. He assumed these were for aesthetic purposes. Their hair also held an unnatural black color, and they dressed in black with metal studs covering their clothing. The studs served no obvious purpose. Josh's words ran through his head.

'Preps, Goths, Jocks, Nerds. People divide up into cliques if they like the same stuff. You have to pick one or else you're fair game to anyone.'

So it appeared that school was some sort of primitive ritual of dominance among adolescents. Their manner of dress must have indicated the tribe that they belonged to. How did he know which he would belong to? He was not like the people in black, nor the large males that all wore similar clothing with their names on them. A most peculiar group showed itself, clustered tightly together. Many were females. They all wore tails that were clearly synthetic. Whiskers like those of a cat were drawn on their cheeks and they made excessively animated gestures and giggled amongst themselves. Studying them, he saw cartoon figures adorning their clothing and bags.

"Weeaboos." A voice behind him said. Turning around, he saw a male. He had blond hair and wore corrective lenses. He did not appear to bear any of the markings of the assembled groups.

"What?" Maybe it was some sort of encoded greeting.

"Weeaboos." He gestured to the girls with the tails. "Its this weird thing where they wish they were anime characters. Never heard the word before?" Anime. He had not heard such a term, but judging by its context, it must have been some sort of visual entertainment. It is clearly something well known to the students, so it was best that he pretend he was familiar with it.

"Oh. No, I have never heard the word." He was taken aback by the interaction. He had not expected to be engaged in conversation so soon. Aside from the people he lived with, he had little experience with humans his age.

"Some people haven't. So what classes do you have?" He remembered the paper he had been given by the guidance counsellor after his placement tests. He had been made to take them twice, acheiving a perfect score. Something only two other students who had now graduated had been able to accomplish. He knew very well who those two students were. He handed the paper to the boy, assuming that he wanted to determine whether or not they had any classes in common. "AP Calc, AP English, AP Biology, Engineering Studies... What are you some sort of super genius?" A red flag raised in his mind. Had he done something wrong that would draw the attention, and subsequently the aggression, of the others?

"I didn't know that they were difficult to enroll in." He took the paper back from the boy.

"You're weird, kid. I don't have any classes with you, but meet me at lunch. We'll talk. Its hard being the new kid. I'm Carson." Without waiting for a response, he left. Did all of the other students interact in such a way? The exchange was strange to him.

* * *

"Ok everybody, sit down. We have a new student today. David Trager." He put his hand on David's shoulder. It made him very uncomfortable. "And judging by his test scores, he's going to do very well here. Go ahead and sit down wherever you want." Mr. Harris was a large man. His stature seemed unlike one that would teach a subject such as Calculus. He was large and muscular, intimidating. The other students in the glass looked less than amicable, staring at him with scrutinizing eyes. He did not think he would fit in well with the other students.

* * *

Lunch proved to be more confusing than he had originally anticipated. There were so many unspoken expectations based on ettiquette that had not been explained to him. The boy named Carson was nowhere to be seen. The other students grouped similarly to the ways in which they had grouped outside. The people dressed in black all sat together, whispering amongst each other. The large males yelled and made loud noises at each other as several females gathered around, laughing mirthlessly and sneaking duplicitous glares at each other. Friendships among the higher social echelons were clearly thin and tenuous.

The rectangular tables were a drab brown, covered in the refuse from the students' sloppy eating. They were segmented, each segment seating roughly six people. He sat at the table next to the loud males, intending to spend the duration of the lunch period finishing his work so that he did not need to occupy valuable time at home with it. Opening his biology textbook, he began scanning the chapters. The homework would be much more quickly completed in the future if he just commited the entire book to memory. As he flipped through the ninth chapter, which concerned genetics and meiosis, something wet and sloppy landed on his book.

He inspected the substance. Jell-O was printed on the tin foil covering of the container. It had come from his right, where the loud students were sitting. They were all looking at him and laughing. Could they have been laughing at his misfortune? It was an apparently common practice in the school. He stared in confusion, unable to ascertain how he should proceed. He remembered more of Josh's advice. 'If anyone gets in your face or messes with you, you gotta beat 'em up, dude. Its the only way to get people off your back.' If that was true, then violence must be the only display that adolescents will respond to.

It was also implied that they could not be allowed to continue with their antagonistic hostility. He stood up.

* * *

"And this new foster child of yours has no violent history whatsoever, Mrs. Trager?" The principal had had much experience with the Tragers. The foster children they had taken in had caused much trouble for the faculty of the school. They were cheaters and delinquents as far as he was concerned.

"No, and I think you need to consider the possibility that he may not be completely at fault. I thought your school had a zero tolerance policy toward bullying. Are you going to let those three boys haze him as a new student? It's his first ever day of school with other children, bullying could be a damaging experience to his interaction with other students." She was having trouble defending David's position. She understood, but she did not know how to make the principal understand without full disclosure of David's situation which was not an option.

"First of all, Mrs. Trager, I feel that..." He stopped, glancing at the papers in a folder. "Three broken ribs for Harvey, a concussion, fractured wrist and, erm... Testicular damage for Mr. Jacobs and a heavily bruised trachea for Charles Denton was punishment enough. Second of all, could your child's vicious assault of the three boys not be construed as bullying?"

"He has had very little interaction with other children before we adopted him. He came from a very troubled home and he has almost no knowledge of how to react in such a situation. He reacted in the only way that made sense to him. Surely you can't fault him for that. I've been working with him to try and acclimate him socially, but I was legally obligated to put him in school. My hands were tied and you know it."

"Regardless, I am obligated by my position as principal to take disciplinary action. One weeks suspension. I'll have his teachers get together any homework he will have and photo copies of the lesson plans."

* * *

The ride home was silent and Nicole had obviously deviated from the conventional route home. He had assumed it was so they would have more time to talk in private.

"So... Besides the..." She searched for the appropriate word. "Altercation in the cafeteria, how was your first day?" She smiled, probably in an attempt to reassure him that he was not going to be punished. She seemed to know what he was thinking, possibly a marker of her occupation as a doctor of the mind. "You're not in trouble, but we really need to talk about this later. Nowadays you simply can't do things like that, you'll get yourself in trouble."

"I am positive that I did not wound them critically. The damage was minor." He had done no lasting damage, and was failing to understand how he had earned suspension from school after showing such consideration.

"That's not the point. It's hard to explain. Its just the way things are. You're going to have to adjust if you want to fit in. Its really not so bad. You just have to learn to manage situations in ways that aren't aggressive. I promise, it gets easier. Sometimes there are people who deserve it. You just have to trust that they'll get what they deserve in the end."

"I'm sorry I got you in trouble, Nicole."

"Oh no problem. I'm not afraid of that horrible man. I've never met someone less deserving of the responsibility of educating so many children. He's just insecure because he's going bald." This made David smile. He was glad Nicole understood him. He would not get her in trouble again.

"But still. I must have misinterpreted Josh's advi-" He was interrupted by surprise as Nicole reflexively tapped the brakes.

"Josh told you to do that?" He was torn between lying to Nicole and getting Josh in trouble. What Josh had done was surely wrong, judging by Nicole's response. But he had good intentions in mind, for it was an attempt to help him deal with his first day of school. He had already gone too far to recant his excuse, so he repeated in Josh's voice.

"If anyone gets in your face or messes with you, you gotta beat 'em up, dude. Its the only way to get people off your back." Reverting to his own voice, he looked at Nicole cautiously. "Is this going to get Josh in trouble? It was my fault, I misunderstood."

"No, he should have never told you things like that. I suppose I'll have to discuss this with the both of you then." The ride home was quiet once more.


	6. Another Day At The Office

**Author's Note: So, yeah... I'm beyond angry because I was really almost done with this chapter, and I didn't really think I had any particular reason to save before I finished because I was almost done, right? So then my computer locks up and I have to start right the Hell back at the beginning at 11 at night. Thanks for everyone's reviews and reads, blah blah blah, kind of mad right now so the pleasantries of the author's note are wearing kind of thin. Sorry for the lack of story related action in the last couple chapters, I just find it unrealistic to pack every paragraph with mind numbing action and revelations. Because life is just that way. Sometimes just plain nothing happens. And I promise I'll learn to save regularly in case my computer decides to be a jackass again. And for those worry warts, calm yourselves, this isn't the last chapter. _By the way, reviews or no new chapter._ Except for Nosside, she's a good reviewer. And Mila. The rest of you are awful.**

* * *

His suspension was almost complete. Tomorrow he would have to return to the monotonous repetition that was known as a school routine to human youths. Although most human youths did not have to worry about a militant training regiment. He had had some success in his endeavors, however small. He had moved to more difficult exercises with Foss, some of which involved a rock climbing wall that Kyle had used. Most exciting of all, his mental abilities had developed more. He had been able to move a glass of water freely, even lifting up small measures of water from the rest. While it was a small degree of manipulation, he was not discouraged. He was proud of his achievement, and continued to push his limits at a reasonable rate.

After breakfast, Kyle had given him a playing card. He had been instructed to move the card with his mind, as he had done with the water. He understood that it was possible, but was having trouble devising a method with which to accomplish the task. He could not use his body's internal polarity as he had done with the water, so it must be a different force that he could interact with. Maybe it was gravitic manipulation that he would need to fall back on? But how would he manipulate gravity?

He realized that his thoughts were buzzing and needed to calm himself. Shutting out the thoughts of how he would do it, he closed his eyes. He had been sitting cross legged on his cot next to Kyle's tub, staring at the card with his mind awash with theories and methods. With his eyes closed, his thoughts cleared and he watched the lights again. As he developed, the lights became more distinct in his mind. He knew them for what they were. Each one was a human life, a mind. They were all different sizes, which must have been due to a difference in some characteristic that he was as of yet unaware of.

They were also different colors, the same colors he would see buzzing around them as if he had been looking at them in person. They formed lovely constellations of colors and shapes that he loved to watch as he slept. The ability to see them was his most treasured gift, even above his intelligence. He was darkly fascinated with the fact that they did not know that he was watching. Would it be construed as an invasion of privacy? He reassured himself that it was not because he could not see what the minds were doing, only that they were there. This was a good thing because humans were so finicky about their privacy. After some unfortunate incidents when he had first come to the Tragers, he had been briefly informed on matters of modesty and privacy and found the entire custom quite strange but one that must be adhered to. Still, the thought that he was unwittingly spying on the people around him prevented him from telling anyone of his ability to see the lights, although he suspected that Kyle knew.

He had become very proficient in distinguishing the minds from each other by their color. The only lights near him that he was not familiar with were the two that were on the street. They were probably two strangers standing on the sidewalk or stopping on the side of the road to read a map. Nicole and Stephen were difficult because they both shared a deep purple, a color that he enjoyed. He mused that it must have been because of their romantic compatibility which must have been biological as well as emotional. Kyle and Jessi stood out starkly among the other lights, they were the easiest. Amanda shone a blue slightly lighter than Kyle's. Josh was represented by a faint green light, while Lori's light purple shone slightly brighter. He had also learned to form a mental map of the area by the lights, judging that he could see an area that was approximately one hundred and twenty meters with himself as the center point. He hated going into the city, the lights threatened to overwhelm him. Every single light almost seemed like a sound, drowning out his thoughts with their continuous hum. But the suburbs he enjoyed. Not too little that the silence was uncomfortable, but enough to make a small rhythm that he enjoyed listening to.

His mind had begun to wander. Focusing, he cleared his thoughts again. He tried to think as little as possible, in hopes of discovering some sort of mental faculty that would allow him to accomplish the task he had been set to. It was already after dinner time and through several attempts throughout the day he had been unable to move the card more than a wiggle. And admittedly, he had been cheating by using water in the air.

He felt a warm current of air tickle his face. The warm current should not have been there. The door was closed and so was the window, and outside there was a temperature of roughly fifty seven degress with a three degree variance. A noise fractured the silence, fading before he could determine what it was. It sounded like a strange scraping noise, from the floor. Opening his eyes he saw his lights flowing around himself. Shifting erratically, a thousand different colors at once, a small tendril extended from the lights around his chest and midsection. The tendril extended to the card slowly, enveloping the card.

He was not sure what it meant, but he had never seen his lights extend in such a way. Now he felt as if he was touching the card with his hand, taking in sensory information from the card freely. No, not like he was holding it with his hand. He got more than he ever could have from physical contact.

He could feel the contours of the card, the smoothness of the gloss that made the cardboard shine. Without looking, he could even feel the bend of the top left corner, and the indent in the middle of the card that caused it to bow outward, pushing the checkered pattern of the back off of the floor slightly. He felt a small amount of energy, and saw faint blue traces of light flitting across the surface of the card. As the traces came in contact with his lights, realization sparked across his thoughts. Kyle was the last person to touch the card, and his lights were blue. Was it possible that he had embedded some sort of mental trace in the card on purpose or was it something that only David could pick up?

Against his will, a memory surfaced. One that was not his. As he watched the memory unfold, he saw himself looking at... Him. He must have been seeing from Kyle's perspective, which made him slightly uncomfortable. After the dream of the boy in the tank, he did not like seeing through any eyes but his own. Watching the memory, he saw himself looking at Kyle, waiting for him to finish looking through the deck. Finding a Joker, one that could be omitted in most games, he gave it to the Memory David. "Try to move this. It doesn't have to be anything spectacular, but its good to start with something light first. We'll increase the mass geometrically as you're ready. Don't push the limits more than you feel comfortable with. You know from our memories what will happen if you do." The Memory David nodded and the vision dissipated.

Coming back to reality, he saw that only a couple of seconds had passed in real life, which was strange because the memory took place over at least a minute. Renewing his concentration on the card, he willed it to move upward. He acted as if he were going to move his arm, but focusing on the tendril of energy and not his arm. He felt the heat again as the card slowly lifted into the air. It was difficult to discern its origins due to its sporadic movement with the rest of the air in the room. Was it possible that he was expending energy gathered from the environment, or his own body, to move the card? Of course no change could be accomplished without the expenditure of energy, surely this was no different. It was the law of nature, an undeniable directive, one that all things must obey. So where was this energy coming from? He did not feel the loss of any of his own stamina, but it would certainly be a small amount of energy required to lift the card.

He felt a small pang of a headache, wincing. He released his contact with the card, allowing it to fall the few feet to the floor. As his concentration was replaced by elation and excitement, he walked to Jessi's room to tell her of his success since Kyle was with Amanda. Passing the living room to get to the stairs near the door, he stopped. Closing his eyes, he saw that the two strangers were still there, approximately twelve meters from the house.

What raised his suspicion was not that they were there, but that they were still there. It would have been much less strange if they had gone after his initial check but he had been concentrating on the card for more than an hour and they were still there. Approaching the window, he bent one of the blinds out of the way so he could see clearly. He enhanced his hearing as he had been shown in an attempt to overhear any conversation. A blonde man. And a big man in the passenger seat who's face he could not see They were not speaking. The blonde man was watching the window, making direct eye contact with David. They watched each other for a few brief moments before the man's once steady heartbeat began to flutter, beating arhythmically and much quicker.

He heard as the various mechanisms within the car whirred into motion, starting the car. It pulled away and the loud noise was too much, he had to allow his hearing to return to normal.

* * *

M wiped a cold sweat from his forehead as he sped through the suburban streets away from the house. They had been seen. Everything had changed. While it was a given that N.I.R.U.S., XY and XX likely knew that the house was being watched, there was no reason to suspect that they did not due to their heightened cognitive ability. But they had always taken measures to ensure that no direct visual contact was made. Tinted windows, watching primarily at night, changing cars. But no, eye contact was made. It was best that it was who it was. XX would have acted unpredictably, possibly engaging them directly. He was not sure if they would have survived. XY would have followed them, and likely found some way to become a nuisance to their overall operations. No, he was not afraid of the filthy little second rate warehouse clone. The greatest danger from him was that he would raise the alarm of the other two. If they went into hiding they could take years to find, if ever!

But even still, that was not what made him sweat. The Council was the cause of his fear. He and his family would surely be killed for their negligence. He rubbed the back of his ear pensively. He would have to avert this situation before it became unsalvageable.

* * *

The sight of the blonde man in the car troubled him. He did not want to tell Kyle and Jessi that he had seen him just yet. He did not want to worry them. Plus, he hoped to catch the two men on his own. There was no need to raise alarm in the Tragers until it was a certainty that the situation required further action. He began considering actions that would allow him to apprehend them.

"David?" Mrs. Norman's voice scattered his thoughts. He needed to come back to reality. Gathering from the upward inflection of her voice, she had asked him a question. Glancing at the diagram of the circulatory system, the neck circled in red marker. Thinking of a statement that would cover a broad group of answers, he clears his throat. "The carotid artery is the primary supplier of the head and neck with oxygenated blood. The systemic blood pressure in this artery is controlled by a pressure sensitive homeostatic feedback mechanism which is regulated by the autonomic nervous system. The reason I presented such a broad statement, Mrs. Norman is because I believe it will be sufficient to answer a range of questions since I was not paying attention." Why did he say that? He needed to focus. If he continued to speak his mind, he may give away something that would complicate things. "I'm sorry..." The rest of the students were laughing silently. He sat up straighter and looked forward, signifying that she had his full attention.

"Right... So, this here is the mitrol - the aorta then brings blood to the rest of the body. Your homework is to draft a method and a list of materials to make your model and submit it to my email for approval. Have a good day and I'll see you all tomorrow." He looked at the clock in astonishment. Forty six minutes and twelve seconds had passed! It was the end of class! How was that possible? He looked at the clock again. Sure enough, it was the end of class. "David?" Mrs. Norman said his name from her desk. "Class is dismissed, David. You can go."

Everyone had already left. He looked down at his notebook, lifting the cover to close it and put it in his backpack when he stopped. Staring uncomprehendingly at the page, it was covered in a perfect repeating pattern of lines and dots. They were all flawlessly spaced, the dots resting just above the line. They were all perfectly symmetrical, as if they were printed from a computer. He flipped the pages. It continued for fourteen and a half pages. Anything in the path of the pattern had been erased carefully, leaving only faint traces. The very end of the symbols was marked with a question mark. It was obviously a code with which he was not familiar. He needed to speak to Kyle and Jessi about this.

* * *

"Jessi I don't think we should do this. We'll get in trouble." David looked around as he pulled his hooded sweatshirt off.

"It'll be fine." She pulled her sweater over her head.

"But we're not supposed to do this!" He whispered, afraid of being overheard.

"Just take off your pants and relax, the first time is always difficult." She scoffed at his reluctance, standing with her hands on her hips.

"But why are we even doing this? And why do we have to take our clothes off? It's cold." He shivered slightly, turning away from the glimmering blue swimming pool. Jessi was clad in a large T-Shirt and oversized shorts that she cinched with a belt.

"Here, change into these." She threw him some clothes that were larger than his, turning her back to allow him to change as she spoke. "This is a good exercise because rather than simply moving water, of which we have seen you are capable, you put the polarity of your body's water in direct opposition with the polarity of the pool. You have to keep a good control of it or you'll fall in or go off balance. It also helps you practice controlling your core body temperature to help protect yourself against the cold."

"I'm dressed now, you can turn around." He set his clothes to the side. "I have a few questions before we begin. First, why are we both wearing Kyle's clothes? Second, what happens if this family of STRANGERS wakes up and sees two people levitating over their swimming pool?"

"We're wearing Kyle's clothes because he's sleeping, and thus does not know we have his clothes. Would you rather get YOUR clothes wet and have to walk home in them? And secondly, at that point we would probably run. Who would believe them? Most normal people are really closed minded about what is and is not possible." With that, she stepped backward into the pool. To his amazement, instead of falling into the water, she stood on the surface of it as if it had turned to glass. He smiled in astonishment, excited to try it himself. Stepping onto the water, he changed the polarity of his own body. He realized too late that the change was too drastic, repelling his foot and propelling him onto his back, knocking the wind out of his lungs.

"Harder than it looks. Try again."

* * *

"You want me to do what?" Josh was on break, sitting with David at a table in the Rack.

"Cover for me tonight. I'm going to sneak out. I have something I need to do." David sipped his smoothie calmly.

"Do I get to know what you're doing?" He arched an eyebrow suspiciously.

"No, sorry. I'll tell you if it ends up working out, I promise. I'll pay you back, too. I'll do all of your homework for two weeks." Not giving him the opportunity to say no, David got up and went home to complete the device involved in his plan.

* * *

The final additions had been set into place. If the men returned tonight, they would have only one place to park. He had set obstructions in all of the other available spots that were in view of the house. He also measured the average width apart the wheels of the average vehicle are, leaving pressure sensitive pads at those points. Once those pads were triggered, a tracking device would be attached to the undercarriage of the car, allowing him to track their movements as he pursued them to wherever it is they go after they finished observing the house.

* * *

They changed their car, as he expected them to. They must have thought that that would draw suspicion away from them. He sat on the roof dressed in black, waiting to trigger the device he had hidden in the parking space. He heard the clicks of the shift. '1 click. 2 clicks. 3 clicks.' The car was now in park. He triggered the device, watching Josh's cell phone. It would receive a text message after two minutes of prolonged pressure on a trigger, signifying that the device was firmly attached and would not fall off. Switching to the main screen, he hit the green call button on Speed Dial 6. As the call went through, it triggered a device he had attached to the power circuits throughout the house. At varying times, the lights switched on, all except Kyle's room, Jessi's room, and Mr. and Mrs. Tragers' room.

As predicted, the blonde man hurriedly threw the car into drive, pulling out of the spot and proceeding down the remainder of the street. The small red dot moved along a downloaded map of the area, just as planned. He jumped from the roof, running as fast as he could to keep up with it. It was time to figure out who these people were.

* * *

He tucked the phone in his pocket, stepping from between the building. SolTech? He was not familiar with the name, but it was where the car had parked. He could see a security guard. The tall man held a painful looking baton, probably to beat intruders with. Orange. His lights were orange. He could see them now. He knew what to do. Movement is governed by electrical impulses sent from the brain to the muscles, moving the appropriate body parts. He closed his eyes. The inside of the building was buzzing with lights, heavy with activity. Around the side of the building he found himself on, he could detect no other life apart from the one security guard.

He would have to be careful. It was doubtful he could have more than one attempt before an alarm was raised. Concentrating more than he ever had before, he focused on the orange light outside the building in his head. He began to hum, eliciting a response from his own lights. They swirled, like a bee hive. They turned red. 'Lower'. He dropped his frequency. They dropped slightly in hue, becoming a strange scarlet color. 'More'. Lowering his frequency even more, his lights stopped swirling, becoming a placid and stable orange, identical to the man outside the building. He was standing next to the wall, looking around idly.

'-she pissed off that I missed his soccer game? Can't wait to get home in the morning. I wish she knew that I'm doing everything I can. Can't talk about the job. She'd never underst-' The man's thoughts seemed to rush in and out of sight, vanishing when he tried to listen. He would not hurt this man badly, he was thinking about his son. How could he in good conscience prevent him from seeing his son in the morning?

Gathering his thoughts, he clenched his fist. The man also clenched his fist around the baton. In one swift motion, he aimed his empty hand at his head and swung, as if with an imaginary object.

* * *

"Sir..? Could you come take a look at this?" Jennings had been watching the security moniters, when Bret had done it. "He just... Knocked himself out or something." He played back the footage as D watched closely, narrowing his eyes.

"Clear the bay." D did not raise his voice, but he was heard and the personel in the bay got up from their moniters and shuffled through the auxiliary exits leaving only Jennings and himself. They waited.

* * *

David approached the man, his head pounding. He had never exerted so much effort. He was sweating as he rifled through the man's clothes. The door was protected by a keycard scanner, surely the guard had a key? A pocket in the man's vest yielded the fruits of his labors, a featureless white key with a solid black bar on the back side. Approaching the door, he wiped his forehead and continued through the door with the man's baton in hand. He emerged not in a hallway or stairwell, but directly into a huge room. It must have been a large portion of the building. There were empty chairs and moniters everywhere. He turned to see a raised platform with a bank of displays, showing security footage throughout the building. The unconscious man dominated one of them. There were two men standing there, one of them was one of the men in the car. The other he did not recognize.

"Ah, the little doppleganger finally appears." That voice. It triggered a memory deeply buried in his consciousness. He remembered the woman. "Gloria." "Hello, Supervisory Special Agent Denin."

"Mr. Denin, isn't it? You're Denin?" David was unsure of this man's purpose in this group, but he was clearly someone of high rank. "Why have you been following me?" This was to the other man, who remained silent.

"Isn't it obvious? So smart yet so moronic. We need your dear little friends, Kyle and Jessica. You were intended to help us before you started disobeying. Remember those neat little inhibitors? Those were meant to make sure you were a good little test tube baby and did what you were told. Too bad you misbehaved." He made a mock frowning face, making David's blood boil.

"Why do you need Kyle and Jessi? For the same reason Latnok needed them?"

"Of course not. Latnok was a schoolyard gang. We are, what is it you children say nowadays? The real deal." He emphasized the last two words unnecessarily. "Quite frankly, you are disposable. We were going to do just that once you forced XY and XX to come to us, but I suppose we didn't make our inhibitors strong enough. We'll just have to do better with the next batch."

"The next batch?" The implications of the three harmless words gave him a small shiver.

"Of course! To be honest, you're a dime a dozen. Trash. Worthless. Cheap. XX and XY are the real prize. You took mere months to gestate, simply at an accelerated rate. While your abilities are impressive, we made you using samples from Adam Baylin and Sarah Emerson. The process that birthed XX and XY was, well, analogue and slow. Yours was faster, more streamlined and more efficient, allowing us to crank out quite a lot of you, and at equal abilities to XY and XX actually. But imagine, if we had the original two, samples directly taken from them with our systems. We could make something greater than the two of them put together, overstepping the reach of Latnok altogether." The man spoke casually, flicking his wrist to accentuate his words, but talking with an animation that worried David.

"A lot of me?" Was that even possible? He was him, wasn't he? Nobody else could be him, it just did not make sense.

"Yes. Would you like to see, little clone?" The monitors behind him switched, a button having been pressed by the silent man behind him. They showed something that he could simply not believe. Rows and rows of pink tanks, all with embryo at varying stages of development. One of the cameras zoomed in to one at the very back wall. It was him, in the tank. They were all him. He was one of them. "I guess we could always try again after you're dead."

There was a small sting on his neck. He could not breathe. Turning around, slowly, his eyes losing focus, he saw the girl from the Rack. She was holding a syringe, the last remains of a sapphire blue fluid leaking from its sharp tip. He recognized it for what it was. The faint smell of almonds, the blue color. A liquid cyanide solution. It had been injected directly into his bloodstream. As his vision blackened rapidly, he was left in the dark, alone, as his biological function came to an end, his heart slowing to a stuttering halt.

* * *

Jessi and Kyle woke suddenly from sleep, breathing heavily. There was a strange feeling. One of absence. There was something that wasn't there, that should be. Kyle looked next to his tub. David was not on his cot. 'No. That's what's missing.' He rushed upstairs to Jessi's room, only to meet her on the stairs. They didn't say it but they both knew. David was dead.


	7. Reboot

**Author's Note: So, hi again everybody. Sorry it's been a bit since I posted last. To be honest it wasn't my intention to leave you for so long with that cliff hanger, I'm sure I lost some readers after having done so but I'm fine with that. The best readers are the one that stayed :P Again, I was a victim of my own schedule and I apologize. And here's Chapter 7, ladies and dudes. It may or may not be a short one, I'm not sure. I've been wicked busy and I felt like I had to post SOMETHING after that last chapter, but I'll make future ones longer hopefully.**

* * *

The tile was cold on his bare skin as he sat, waiting. He did not know what he was waiting for, but what else was there to do in this room that was neverending? The featureless gray tiles, extending into oblivion. He had walked and walked for what must have been miles, but without any sort of marker with which to accurately gauge distance, he could not be sure. It was cold, he can't imagine why he would have come here without clothes. He didn't remember coming here at all, but he could not imagine being in such a state of mind that he would not have brought his clothing.

"Clothing is something for the physical world. It has no place here. But that is neither here nor there. You cannot exist in this form for long, GivenNameDavid. But you already knew that, didn't you?" The boy appeared, speaking in measured tones. His voice seemed distorted, almost electronically. He walked closer, sitting across from him.

"I don't know why I'm here. How do you know my name? And why do you look so familiar?" He winced at a sharp pain in his head and torso. His fingers brushed the area, discerning no apparent damage. Pain must have a cause, it was the nature of pain to alert the body that it has taken damage. He continued to press and prod his torso, looking for its source.

"One in the head. One in the heart, and the last in the midsection. Mr. Denin wanted to make sure that you were dead. Which you are. But so often people confuse the end of biological function and the end of existence. Our contact some time ago, during which I attempted to take control of your body, was what allowed me to extract your consciousness over the link we shared after that encounter. I was able to save you, although as I said, this is simply a temporary solution. It is imperative that you find another form in which to exist, or you will fade to nothingness." The memories came flooding back. The boy in the tank, the man named Denin, his death...

"You still haven't told me who you are." He remembered this boy from the tank, but had no memory of interacting with him before or after his strange dream, which was apparently a failed usurping attempt. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "And you said yourself, you tried to take control of my body. What makes you think I would trust you anyway?"

"If I had my own agenda, why would I tell you? To be completely honest, I saved you because Four is a vicious loathesome bitch. I am Number Two, from a series of which you are Number Six. I exist solely to interface with this system, optimizing its efficiency by one hundred and eighty three percent. I've been watching your life through our link. I saved you also in hopes that you would allow me to live vicariously, as a spectator in your memories. I am confined to the machine, interfaced with the database of the Collective. I have compartmentalized what I could of the available memory, storing your consciousness separate from the network so as to prevent your detection. I was barely able to retrieve the necessary amounts of memory in which to contain your entire being. Your data can only be stored for a limited duration, making the need for a body paramount. I believe we can transfer your consciousness to one of the cloned bodies who have yet to have any sort of awareness or sense of self. Know that you will be killing the clone you choose. Logically, it is an easy choice. Yourself, or another who would not even be able to recognize their own death. But I understand your exposure to the outside might have influenced your method of reason. You have little time, and choosing now would be to the benefit of us both."

It was so much to think about. Could he really kill someone that was just like him, someone who could even find a family, but just hadn't yet? Was the person really alive? Would they ever be? Who was he to take their life to save his own? But it was survival of the fittest, was it not? What he had learned of ethics in the real world interfered with his desire for survival. But if he did not survive, maybe none of them ever would. He would try to free them. Sacrificing one for the many must have been the right thing. Wasn't it? He had little time. "Transfer my consciousness to a clone. What about you? Why don't you transfer your own consciousness and escape?"

"There are failsafes that prevent me from leaving without dying. As of yet, I am unable to circumvent them, for they were set in place by Number One, who has had more time to develop than I and is as such more intelligent. But when I do, I will escape. I help you do so in hopes that you will be able to expedite my escape." He put his left index finger on David's forehead, his right index finger directly over his heart. "Get ready," He said it casually. "This will hurt immensely. It's possible you will choose to end your own existence in response." With that, he closed his eyes and made David wish he had never been created.

* * *

The next day was a day of sadness, something all people could understand. Tears were shed, some privately and some in full view.

"How do we explain this to the school, the government, even ourselves? How do we know that he's dead? Kyle and Jessi could be wrong." Nicole held out hope that they had been, but found herself unable to believe it.

"Well we can't explain it to the school. It would just look suspicious and draw attention to the circumstances around his death. We'll have to file a missing persons report." Stephen disliked that they could not have some sort of observance, but they could not risk the implications. Everyone stayed home from school, staying shut up in their rooms.

* * *

"I have increased the dosage of a muscle relaxer, replacing the stimulant. It is a precautionary measure, should you decide to damage yourself during the process." He could barely hear the voice in his head, overwhelmed by the mind numbing agony. In all his attemps to move his arms and peel off his own skin with his fingernails, he could not so much as twitch. He continued to float serenely in the pink fluid, barely giving any outward sign of pain due to the chemical administered by Two. "The transfer process will take several hours. I will disguise the anomolous readings from your chamber in the logs to prevent interference from the employees. Escape will be a matter entirely up to you. I will inform you of the route that I suggest you take when you are fully transferred." The voice spoke with clinical observance, without compassion for his agony. Without sufficient ability to cope, he slipped into a self-induced sleep.

* * *

"Clean this up. Contact K and tell her that her puppet came back. Let her know we had to snip its strings." Denin nudged the prone form of the failed creature. Its blood smeared on his boots. He had shot it in the head, chest and stomach. These things were tricky, you could never be sure they were really dead. But significant trauma to its brain and heart should kill it, regardless of its little tricks. He watched as several attendants scrambled to haul the body from the floor. More blood leaked on the floor, drawing gasps from the attendants. 'They must be new,' he mused, sneering. "Wipe that up." He turned around, putting his gun away and turning to the moniters. "Assure that Four is rewarded."

* * *

He sat in the room again, its gray walls stretching to oblivion. He could barely move, the pain rattled through his skeleton and threatened to simply snuff out his life and cause his body to fall apart at the seems. Just as he thought that it would never stop, that Two had tricked him and that he would spend the rest of his life in crippling agony, it stopped. He opened his eyes, and his vision was flooded with a pink glow. Moving his fingers experimentally, he wriggled free of the cables and sensors. He trusted that Two would hide the anomoly from the rest of the facility. In his mind flashed a map. "Head for the emergency exit. It is in the rear wall of the facility, and leads directly outside. As soon as the capsule is breached there will be an alarm. You will need to get out before they come to investigate what tripped the alarm. I cannot be sure that there will not be guards outside, but you will not be able to fight in your current state. Your only option will be to avoid them. Make your way directly to the Tragers. They will not be able to retrieve you while you're around civilians. I will cause a diversion in the form of a power failure toward the front of the facility. Head around the east side. Get ready." He did not wait for David to prepare himself, triggering the release process. The locking mechanisms clicked as they unfastened, leaving david to push the top of the capsule off and climb out.

An alarm blared at the front of the building, masked by screams of surprise as he heard sparks and saw vague flashes through the cracks in the door leading to the storage of the clones. With a pang of sadness, he ran through the door marked "Fire Exit", hoping he would find a way of helping them.

* * *

The Tragers sat silently at the table, the only sound was the sound of silverware scraping mournfully against plates. Occasionally an attempt at conversation would surface, only to fade. The silence greatly amplified the feeble knock on the front door.

"I'll get it." Josh sighed, standing up and making his way to the door.

* * *

**Yeah sorry this chapter seems a bit rushed. Again, it was more that I felt bad about leaving you guys hanging for so long after what happened in the last chapter. I'll flesh it out a bit more soon, maybe even redo the chapter. So keep an eye out for an edited version of this chapter!**


	8. Gonna Smack A Bitch

**Author's note: Yeah, admittedly that last chapter was a bit terrible, I was busy but I felt bad for the extended cliffhanger period. Hopefully this chapter will be better. I guess I do my longer chapters at two in the morning, which is what time it is now. Little NyQuil and lets get this ball rollin'! Review please, seriously. Only a couple people review and I'm starved for criticism besides Mila and Nosside.**

* * *

"Kyle, I think we need to know whats going on here... I thought you said he was dead?" Nicole whispered, nodding toward the door. "I'm so glad he's okay but there needs to be some sort of explanation!" David lay just inside the room, on his cot. Freshly showered so as to wash the viscous pink fluid from his body, he slept a deep and steady sleep.

"I don't know. Jessi and I couldn't have both felt the same thing and been wrong. We have some sort of sense that is triggered in proximity to others like us, and we can tell when they're nearby. It doesn't make sense for his signature to just blink out of existence. We felt like he was never there and he wasn't in his cot. I noticed something. His hair and skin, there isn't any sign of any sort of degradation. It's brand new." Kyle considered the implications of that last statement, glancing toward the cracked door of the room he once again shared.

"Well what does that mean?" Nicole understood the words, but sought further explanation before jumping to conclusions.

This time Jessi chimed in. "Exposure to sun, particles in the air, the air itself degrades the cells on the topmost layers of our skin and hair. His body seems completely brand new. It doesn't really make sense, but we have to consider the possibility that we can't trust him. He could be a new clone sent to take David's place..." The statement hung in the air, seeping in slowly.

"Can they do that? Just clone people willy-nilly? That just isn't right! I can't believe anyone would consider doing something like that." Stephen approached the three, having listened in on the conversation. "How can just nobody know about it? I can understand where you guys were born, it was in the middle of nowhere but this must be nearby, right?"

"I don't know. It can't be Latnok. We need to not do anything, let them come out a bit more. If we start investigating them legally they'll just go into hiding or do something drastic." Kyle walked back down the hallway. Amanda had sent him a text message over half an hour and he had not been able to reply to her. He figured he would go see her instead and give the Maybe David a chance to sleep before he asked him any questions.

* * *

He awoke with a headache. He did not remember dreaming, and was not even sure he had. With what his consciousness had experienced in the last several hours, he was unsure of whether or not he would remain unaffected. He had to go to school tomorrow. He hoped he did not see those three boys again. It was possible they would seek reprisals for their earlier conflict. Hopefully it would take them longer to heal than that. Unless they posessed the same ability to heal that Kyle and Jessi did. The possibility of that happening was minimal of course.

He looked at the clock. Almost four in the morning. It behooved him to stay in the room, lest he wake the rest of the house. Closing his eyes, he watched the lights. They were different while their owners slept. While they were awake, they shifted and glimmered, changing with their wandering thoughts as their attentions and emotions ebbed and swelled. But sleep brought a steady stability to the lights, like gleaming jewels set in an ebony wall of lightless stone. Before he knew it, he drifted off to sleep watching the lights again.

* * *

As the digital clock on the desk clicked to 6:30, David's eyes opened. It must have been his mind still accustomed to the sleep schedule for school. Getting up from the cot, he stretched and listened for everyone else. He could hear movement in the kitchen. Closing his eyes, he saw lights. Only two purple ones. Walking out to meet Stephen and Nicole, he said good morning as he entered.

"Oh, uh. Morning David." Nicole's heart rate increased slightly, almost beyond the range of his perception. Something was worrying her?

"Is something wrong, Nicole?" He could not imagine why she would be worried. Maybe his outburst at school had caused legal complications for her and Stephen? He would feel horrible if that were the case. She had to know that he was commited to school. "I'm going to get ready for school!" Too much emphasis on the word school, he berated himself. Maybe they didn't notice. He ran to the bathroom to take a shower and get his things together.

* * *

He stood in front of the school once again. His skin prickled as he felt people staring at him. They must have still disliked him from injuring their higher class. The primitive social structure must be adhered to from this-

"Hey, kid!" The boy named Carson from his first day was approaching him.

"You weren't in the cafeteria at lunch." David said so frankly. He was not sure if he liked this boy.

"Yeah, sorry. Got caught up in something. I wish I was though! I heard ya got physical with some jocks. I can't believe you're in one piece!"

"I do not believe they possess the necessary strength required to pull a human body into separate parts." Why could he not believe it? Pulling a body apart was no easy task.

"Yeah, but I meant... Nevermind. You retarded or somethin'?" He ran through his vocabulary of common vernacular which was sorely lacking. Retarded... Developmentally disabled. Literally referring to the slowing of an action or reaction due to the introduction of an opposing force or substance.

"I don't believe so..." His response was surely insufficient, for Carson just arched an eyebrow at him.

"Dude, you're the smartest idiot I've ever met. Heard about the new girl? Jaimie I think her name was. She's cute, I think she's got some classes with you, dude. Heard she's pretty smart. Perfect fo-" His lips kept moving, but the rest of the statement was lost on David. Jaimie. The girl who had killed him. His fingers darted to his neck, feeling for an injection site that was not there. Jaimie. The girl with the syringe. The name rattled through his head. She was here? As his thoughts raced, he glimpsed the familiar brown straight hair among the migrating students. The girl called Jaimie was sorting through her locker, arranging her books in order of thickest to thinnest. "You gonna make a move or what?" He was suddenly reminded of Carson's presence.

"Move?"

"Yeah. Gonna go hit on her? Ask her out? Make a move." It must be a euphemism given to adolescent courting rituals.

"Yes. I'm going to make a move." He left Carson, approaching the girl from behind. Leaning close so that only she could hear, he says. "I heard we have some classes together." The girl stopped moving, straightening. Turning around, she looked at him sharply. He held his hand out mockingly. "I'm David. If you need help finding anything..." He remembered something that he had seen on the television. A phrase that held significant offensive meaning with few words. "Go... fuck yourself." He subtly tapped his neck where she had injected him, knowing she noticed. She had not said a word, staring almost THROUGH him. He did not let her know, but she unsettled him. He walked away, turning away from her dismissively.

"You get yourself some digits, man?" Carson walked to catch up with him.

"Digits?" Digits were sometimes used to refer to fingers, but it was doubtful that was what he was referencing.

"A phone number, man, stay with me."

"Oh, right. No. I asked her if she would like to... Hang out. At some point. I think I'll be meeting her soon."

"Excellent! You're normal after all!" He held his hand up in the air, palm facing David. David had seen this gesture and returned it furtively, their hands meeting with a slight clap. "We gotta work on your high fives, but baby steps."

* * *

"Everybody we have another new student. Just keep bringin' em in! Jaimie Alegro, everybody. Make her feel welcome, people." Mrs. Norman, his Anatomy teacher turned to Jaimie. "Why don't you have a seat over there next to David? He's all alone over there!" She said it in jest, but David seethed with anger. He would have to sit at the same table as his murderer.

"I object, Mrs. Norman. Wouldn't she be just as comfortable sitting somewhere else?" He stood up in his seat, gesturing to the other empty seats around. He would not sit next to that girl. He had never met someone that he loathed so thoroughly.

"Oh, I think somebody likes you, sweetie." She gave a wink and put her hands on Jaimie's back, propelling her toward her seat. David almost threw his pencil at Mrs. Norman. He desperately wanted to slap her at the moment, but he grit his teeth and breathed deeply, sitting down next to the brown haired girl. He muttered under his breath, only so that she could hear. "Be careful holding that pencil. It is very sharp." He did not look at her, writing the specifics of the assignment that were written on the board in his notebook.

"So, what did everybody do over the weekend? David?" Mrs. Norman was constantly attempting to ask questions about the students' recreational lives. It was a practice that seemed irrelevant but was surely part of some sort of teaching technique.

"I was murdered, reborn through an advanced cloning process and wandered home on foot evading recovery guards covered in pink fluid." He did not look up from his notebook.

"Oh you're so funny! You must have been bored to death, glad to be back then I would guess!" She talked to her students with great emphasis, as if they had a limited understanding of what she was saying. "What about you, Jaimie dear? Did our new girl do anything exciting before her first day?"

"I murdered him." Jaimie also didn't look up directly, but David felt her glance at him.

"Oh. Well what about you, Hailey?" She continued around the room. She was clearly taken aback by the first two responses. She continued with the lesson, but David did not listen. He was only dimly aware of a diagram of the eye drawn on the board. He was too focused on one thing. He would make this girl's life unbearable.

* * *

Sorry this one wasn't super long. It's four in the morning and I'm tired. I was gonna add more onto it but I figure I can just start it as the next chapter tomorrow. Review!


	9. Noah

**Author's Note: Yeah, sorry, lately the writing his been pretty substandard. Not to say that I'm a great writer, but lately my updates have been really "Meh". Or at least I think so. Its not like I would know what you guys think since nobody reviews (which is really frustrating), which is directly affecting my motivation to write it. I might stop writing it, its kind of like I'm just writing a story and emailing it to myself. But whatever.**

* * *

School continued with its disturbingly uninteresting and monotonous schedule. At every turn he sought to inconvenience Jaimie. Sometimes he contemplated killing her as well but the idea of murdering anyone repulsed him. He did not believe he would be able to. Pushing the thought from his mind, he wandered his way absentmindedly through his school schedule. His mind was too focused on recent events to pay any attention to such a trivial thing as school, filled to the brim with tasks he could accomplish with minimal effort and thus minimal thought.

An image of fire flashed through his mind, distracting him from his writing. It had been happening with increasing frequency. Never the same image, but always small visual flashes, with no sounds. Maybe it was some sort of neurological discrepancy caused by the transference of his consciousness into a new body. Such a thing could surely not happen without complications. Hopefully the flashes of memory would be the extent of the side effects...

"Bartender, bartender, pour me a-" What? He searched for the source of the man's voice. He could hear a drumbeat. Tracing the sound along its source, accounting for the accoustics of the room he spotted a girl with headphones in her ears. The sound stopped. It must have been the music she had been listening to. His hearing changing, narrowing its focus without his thinking about it was unusual. If he remembered correctly (the irony of the phrase not lost on him), Kyle's memories had portrayed a similar occurence. His abilities had spun out of control due to some sort of subtle sound frequency emitted by a record.

"She could be yooouuu... I wouldn't eve-" The song rose to the surface, playing through his mind. Maybe the chain of association in his thoughts had brought it to the front of his mind. But he had never had so little control over his thoughts before. His fingers twitched uncontrollably, his left hand dropping his pencil. The pencil rattled against the desk, producing a tapping rhythm that continued long after it would have stopped after having been dropped. His telekinetic abilities must be shifting as well. He stood abruptly. If something beyond his ability to explain plausibly were to happen, he would rather it happen in the bathroom or the hallway. "Mr. Kieth, can I use the bathroom?"

"Go." His gruff teacher did not look up from his computer screen, making a sweeping gesture toward the door. He rather enjoyed Mr. Kieth as a teacher. He did not bother himself with socializing with his students, did not pry or ask questions. David rushed from the room, breathing heavily. Breathing was something he had labored to master. It was something that was noticed by others as an indication of physical state and sometimes emotion. Things like sighing were unnecessary with his respiratory system. His ability to breathe in and out sent a constant current of air through his primary trachea, through one lung, across several ducts into the other, and out through his secondary trachea. He had learned to feign exhaustion by puffing his chest out and compressing it again, puffing air out in short bursts. Sighing was difficult, he had not yet deciphered when it was expected or appropriate to sigh during a conversation. At this point, he believed breathing heavily would reinforce the illusion that he was feeling ill.

Hurriedly walking through the halls, he passed the bathroom and headed for the stairwell. It was a rarely traveled stairwell because it was out of the direct path taken by many students between classes and was not near any bathrooms. Sinking to the floor, he tried to control himself. His heartbeats were amplified horrendously, crashing against his ear drums. Creaks in every desk in the classrooms around him, even the foundation of the building shifting with the migrant footsteps of the student body. Then suddenly, everything stopped. His hearing had returned to normal, the usual range of sounds passing effortlessly across his perception. What could have caused such an anomoly? The nature of the ability to increase his hearing was that it required intense concentration, was that not true? Getting to his feet, he waited several minutes before he was sure that nothing more would happen before he returned to class.

* * *

"What's your problem?" Jaimie muttered the question, not looking up from the presentation she was putting together on her laptop. It was barely audible, but he heard it.

"None of your business." David snapped back quietly. Why would she care? She had murdered him, surely his wellbeing was the last concern of hers.

"Just wondering if you're upset about being the... Lesser model, is all. I was just wondering if my being superior finally sunk in, maybe it was getting to you. It would get to me, after all, if I was so inferior. So naive, so useless. Trash, even?" Her voice reeked with malice, covered with a thin veneer of levity riddled with cracks, showing the ugliness underneath.

"No, it would seem that I am experiencing some sort of reaction. Maybe it is an allergic response to murderous hags." He returned to his own presentation, constantly watching her in his peripheral vision. He could not see himself ever turning his attention away from her again. If only hitting her would not cause trouble for the Tragers and himself. His hearing had been acting mysteriously again. More images, flashes of memories surged through his mind. He would have to forego his training with Foss tonight. He did not think he would be able to keep his focus.

* * *

"Are you listening to me?" Carson seemed waved a hand in front of his face.

"What? Yes, I was listening." David snapped back to attention, looking at the other student.

"What'd I say, then?" He said it skeptically, the tone in his voice flat.

"Something about knockers." The term used for female breasts was an unseemly one. There were so many, could the entire male population not agree on a single slang term used for body parts? Things would be so much simpler.

"So you really haven't been listening to me for the past, like, ten minutes?" He said incredulously.

"Sorry. I've been thinking." David offered his jell-o cup as a silent act of contrition. It was accepted, quashing a portion of Carson's anger.

"Try not to think too hard, you'll hurt yourself." David knew that he said this jokingly, but almost laughed at how close that was to the truth. Kyle and Jessi had both experienced physical symptoms as a result of pushing their abilities past their limits. "What are you smilin' about?"

"Nothing. I've been very distracted ladel." His attention waned again, focusing on the tray in front of him.

"Ladel?" What was Carson talking about? A ladel had not been mentioned, nor was there one anywhere in sight.

"What?"

"You said ladel."

"No, I did not."

* * *

He had never been so exhausted from a school day. His head was pounding and he was sweating. Laying on his cot with a muffled "oof" he closed his eyes. It was only three in the afternoon and he already felt as if he needed sleep. In his mind flashed a memory of him looking in the mirror. It had been after he brushed his teeth. The memory flashed again, frozen in a single frame. It was followed by a feeling of confusion. The feeling remained as the memory flashed over and over, the strange feeling coursing through his mind.

A pan was taken out of a cupboard out in the kitchen, causing a loud clang. The noise scattered the thoughts like cockroaches retreating to the shadows when you turn on the light. His attention was drawn to the noise, and he wandered out to see if there was anything he could do to help with dinner.

* * *

He was asleep. He knew he was, it had not escaped his awareness. Those were the only circumstances that satisfied what he was seeing. He saw his memories of his second birth, replayed backward and forward, sped up to a blur and slowed to a crawl, time and time again. He watched himself emerge from the pink fluid, eyes wide open wide, body rocked with slight spasms. The exact moment of his awakening was played before his eyes, over and over. He stood next to himself, as if he were there. He reached out to touch the arm of his memory self, only to shift through it with no sensation of contact. He did not expect to be able to actually touch himself, but he could not help but wonder.

He was not entirely sure that what he was experiencing was a dream. Dreams rarely made sense or had any sort of sequence of events. This was a clear and precise loop of memory, one that he was determined to find the root of. He wandered around himself, retracing the first moments of his second life. The loop continued, he followed himself home, knocking on the door of the Tragers' house. Suddenly, the loop replayed, and he was back in the facility. He awoke once more in the pod. Nothing he could do would influence the course of the loop. Was this some sort of subconscious reaction like Kyle's with the record? No, he did not think that that was a possibility.

"Stop it." His voice echoed in the hollows of his own mind. Contrary to what he expected, the loop actually stopped. It froze, suspended in a single frame with pink fluid scattered through the air, held in place. He stood next to himself, his past self. The younger him. He reached out, touching the globules of pink liquid in the air. As he reached and touched them, his younger self began to move. He stood from the liquid and grabbed his outstretched arm. The same feeling of confusion, coupled with a flash of his own face.

"Stop it." His younger self's voice said, mimicking the exact inflection and tone with which he himself said it. They for some reason were able to make contact now. David attempted to pull his arm away slowly.

"Who are you?" He spoke in slow, measured tones.

"Who are you?" His younger self repeated the words with unerring accuracy.

"David." He pointed to his chest, then slowly gestured toward his past incarnation, making sure that everything in his face displayed a desire for a similar response.

"David." His younger self pointed at his own chest. David's fingers twitched with frustration.

"Can you not speak?" He helped the younger self out of the pod, watching as he stood unsteadily.

"Can you not speak?" Mimicked again. He expected as much. A possibility flared in his mind.

"You're the original consciousness in this body, aren't you?" He barely managed to suppress a wave of guilt.

"David." The younger him placed his hands on David's face, pulling on his nose and ears.

"I don't know if you can understand me yet, but I'm not leaving. I'm here to stay, but I can't expect you to leave. I suppose the only middle ground is to share." David sat down on the floor, patting the space across from him. His younger self sat as well, more out of mimicry than understanding the nature of the action. David pulled the sweatshirt he had been sleeping in over his head, throwing it over his younger self's lap. "One thing you need to learn if we're going to stay out of trouble." His younger self looked at it quizzically. Understanding, he pulled it over himself, it was big enough to cover himself adequately. "I'm glad none of this is real. I don't like when my clothes get sticky..." He concentrated on his surroundings. This was his mind too, he should be able to alter them somehow.

The walls of the facility buckled and twisted, distorted and warped by his efforts. "We're going to have to start from the beginning."

"From the beginning." His other self smiled and nodded. David pointed to his eye and then to the far wall, signaling for him to watch. Then, as if from a projector, images of everything he had experienced and known flashed before their eyes, sounds and sights, smells and physical sensations. He would have to learn if they were going to share.

* * *

"David, wake up." Jessi was nudging him with her foot. "You overslept. Nicole thought you were sick, you were saying weird things and felt warm so she called you out of school." The words echoed through the facility that was a construct of his mind. The walls faded away and he was shaken awake. "What is a boy's name."

"A name typically given to a male child, varying based on lifestyle and location. Why?" Jessi had missed the question.

"No, tell me a name to give a boy." He rubbed his eyes sleepily. He did feel slightly unwell.

"Kyle's fake parents that were working for Baylin called him Noah. How about that?" She left the room, shrugging. He focused on the boy. '_How about Noah?_' The thought was met with a feeling of satisfaction.


	10. Coexistence

**I had kind of dropped the story when, on a whim, I saw that it was still getting traffic, if only a little. So I thought why the hell not. I also didn't entirely drop it from lack of feedback. I kind of didn't know where I was going with it until recently, this isn't really an important chapter in terms of any sort of plot, but it's something I really enjoyed writing about them learning to coexist in the same body. I can barely share a ROOM with someone, so I think I know where he's coming from.**

* * *

David had been having some difficulty teaching Noah the things that he himself had been taught not too long ago after emerging frim his tank for the first time. Now it was the first time going to school while sharing a body.

~Noah, you have to let me have control of our body while we're at school. And maybe you'll learn some things too. Later you can meet Kyle and Jessi and the rest of the Tragers.~ He hadn't been able to see the Tragers much before leaving for school the next morning and Noah was still getting used to accessing David's own mental faculties, so he often missed things that David saw, heard or felt. He wasn't sure that Noah knew of them.

~Tragers.~ The voice whispered back in his mind.

~Our family. You'll see them later.~ David approached the steps of the school, distractedly avoiding running into people as he communicated with his passenger. Or was he the passenger? He shrugged the thought off. They both shared the body.

Walking into homeroom, he dropped his backpack on the floor next to his desk. Looking around idly as he waited for attendance to be called, he looked next to him at one of his classmates. Parker, his name was.

~What is that?~ Noah inquired curiously, looking through David's eyes.

~It's another person. It is a "he", not "that".~ David attempted to train him out of seeing others as objects.

~How do you know?~

~How do I know what?~ The question caught him by surprise, he wasn't quite sure what Noah was asking.

~How do you know it is a "he"?~

~It's something you learn. Humans establish sexual identity according to their genitalia and certain defining characteristics.~

~You can't see anything but it's head. All covered in these things.~

~You'll learn. Now stop distracting me, I need to listen for my name.~

* * *

He sat in his English class as the group discussed a story. He had chosen not to participate in the conversation. The idea of symbolism was lost on him. He did not understand how people could derive such grand interpretations from small and seemingly inane objects, and he had to admit that he was somewhat skeptical of the validity of these claims of what the author was thinking. Did they ask the author himself? In the same way, they could never guess that the cause of the occasional twitches of his fingers and feet were due to the fact that he was sharing a body with another consciousness. They think they know things that they do not, and he was somewhat annoyed by that. As he tapped his fingers on the desk that he sat in in the back of the room absently, he thought of something.

~Noah. Do you want to try something?~ He tentatively called to the center of his thoughts where he felt Noah's thoughts buzzing, bored with the lecture.

~Try... Make an attempt or effort to accomplish a task. I want to try.~ Noah's thoughts centered their attention more on his communication with David, clearly interested.

~You can have the right side. I'll take the left...~ David concentrated, relinquishing control of part of his body. He was unsure even how to go about such a thing but his efforts were assisted by Noah's effort to gain control of the side of his body that he attempted to disconnect from.

He didn't even need to ask if it worked, success was immediately felt with a sense of unity but also seclusion and lack of control as he was now unable to feel that side of his body. And yet it moved on its own, the hand rubbing the desk and flexing its fingers.

~Don't do anything big, it'll draw attention.~ David cautioned him, hoping he didn't start flailing his arm around and dancing his right leg. Startlingly, his right eye moved of its own accord, turning at a drastically different angle from his left. Quickly he moved his left eye in the same direction so as not to draw the attention of any onlookers. ~Move with me. The two halves are supposed to function symmetrically.~ He slowly moved his left eye back to the front, and Noah followed him, keeping both eyes looking in the same direction. ~If we practice, we can stay like this sometimes. I feel bad keeping you separated from your own body.~ Noah did not respond, idly dragging the right hand's fingers across their cheeks, but his understanding and excitement at the idea was clear.

"David? What is your opinion on the representation of the tree?" His head snapped to the front of the room.

~Noah, I need to talk. Let me have the other side.~ He stammered a little, only having control of half of his body. "Uh... Tree..." Finally, Noah relinquished his hold on the other side and he rifled through his thoughts for potential associations with the characteristics of trees. Finally, settling on an adequate answer, he looked to the front again. "I think the tree stands for an idea of growth in the character, and maybe the healing of past wounds both emotional and ethical. Maybe the character has advanced in such a way that they were able to develop as a person and move past the limitations set by their old selves." He kept careful control of his inflection as he rattled off the nonsense answer. He was also careful to remember to stop for breath, a necessity for most people.

"Very good, David. Growth... And... Development" Mrs. Grover said slowly as she wrote the words on the board. David almost laughed out loud. They believed him? Most people were so silly sometimes. The bell rang suddenly as it signaled the students to move to the next class.

~Are you ready to try walking?~

* * *

David and Noah walked down the hall after the last bell, on their way home. They drew some attention but largely ignored it as Noah got used to walking with only one half of the body under his control. Their hips swayed comically as the feet fell out of sync every now and then.

~Okay, stop.~ David thought in frustration. The two halves stopped, the left foot slightly ahead of the right foot as Noah got distracted and forgot to move the foot in time with the rhythm of walking. He had taken a less travelled route back home so that they could practice. The Tragers all drove home after school and he had declined a ride so as to avoid people while he and Noah attempted to synchronize their walking. Noah waited for his instructions, itching to move some more as the fingers of their right hand tapped on their right leg impatiently. ~Okay, ready? You, me, you, me, you, me, you, me...~

They continued in that manner as their walking became more regular, the rhythm balanced and steady. ~Good! You, me, you, me...~ Noah's consciousness vibrated with the praise as they continued. ~Now try moving the arms. You, me, you, me, you, me, you...~ Their arms swayed accordingly, their pace of walking finally normal and consistent. ~Once we get better at this, we can stay this way as long as we act the same.~ They continued walking on their way home, even breaking into a brisk run for a short time before they almost tripped and decided to take it slower. Approaching the door, both hands reached to grasp the doorknob. ~Let me do that...~ David opened the door and retreated to the room he shared with Kyle, sitting on the cot.

~I think there's a better way we can do this.~ Noah's interest was piqued, but his communication was much less verbal as he had been without a means to communicate through more than emotions and concepts that were still invariably understood by David. ~The brain is nothing more than an incredibly sophisticated organic computer. Maybe having two of us sharing could be incredibly beneficial. If we allocate processes to each of us subconsciously, we'll be able to act more in sync with each other... I'm coming in.~ He reclined back on his cot, staring at the ceiling. Slowly he slipped into unconsciousness as he receded inside his mind, in order to meet with Noah.

* * *

The inner mental construct of where Noah spent his time when not controlling part of the body would set David on edge if it were not for the fact that it was simply impossible for anything to be lurking in the shadows. It was a twisted and warped version of the closest thing to a womb they had both been placed in, the walls rusted and decrepit and all of the tanks that weren't his sat derelict and unkempt, while his remained in perfect condition. Noah stood, still naked and covered in the pink fluid next to his open tank, looking at David with his head cocked to the side quizzically.

He didn't make any effort to explain his process of thought to Noah, since the other could easily access those thoughts and ideas. David reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag of jingling tiles. The bag appeared to be made up of a soft blue material, it felt like liquid. He crouched on the floor and motioned for Noah to do the same as he emptied the bag onto the floor. The tiles were of course mental constructs as well, a tangible representation of mental faculties. David pocketed the tile labelled Speech for himself, nodding toward Noah that it was okay to pick through the pile. This would prevent them from overlapping or both focusing on the same thing redundantly.

They continued for several minutes, sorting through more and more little wooden tiles. After the allocation had been thoroughly gone over, David stood up and wiped his hands on his pants from the dirty floor. "Now we just have to practice. I'm going to wake up now. You take the right side, I'll take the left." He stepped back and sort of waved, knowing that the gesture was understood even though Noah would not reciprocate it. Concentrating on waking up, he sank into the floor and there was a brief blackness before he awoke.

~Remember, Noah. We're lefthanded, I'll control our dominant hand so whenever we have to pick something up, I'll take care of it. Once you get more used to physical movement we can switch sides from time to time.~ The typical nonverbal confirmation of understanding arose from the other consciousness as they ate at the table with the Tragers. David used their left hand to eat while Noah drummed their right hand's fingers on their side, fidgeting with their pockets. ~I don't mean to hog the dominant side. I just want you to get used to how our body works before you start dumping food in our lap.~

The Tragers could be seen glancing in their direction as they silently ate. Tonight Jessi told him that they were to resume their training sessions since he had to break in his new body still. He was curious to see how well he and his roommate would do trying not to be bludgeoned by Jessi's fists.

* * *

"Okay. Let's start from the top because we're not sure if your new body can handle any sort of manipulation." Jessi stood outside his window, as if they had been carrying a conversation. Kyle woke up but reclined back in his tub as he noticed that Jessi was there for David. He reluctantly pushed himself out from under his blanket and followed her out the window. He sort of mentally nudged Noah into wakefulness. "If I have to do this, you have to do this." The comment was received with a hum of irritation but otherwise compliance. The right side of their body became alive as they worked together to pick themselves up from the cot. "We can probably start with some running, maybe some climbing and jumping. Those kinds of things. Are you ready?" Without waiting, she runs off into the dark. As he sets off after her, the toe of their right foot gets caught behind their other foot and they fall in a heap to the ground.

~This isn't working. Use of one eye between the two of us is hampering our depth perception and we're still having difficulty coordinating our extremities.~ They both watch Jessi disappear down the street, briefly illuminated by the streetlamps before disappearing again. ~I have an idea. Take full control of the body.~ David for the first time ever relinquished full control of the body that he shared. It was a strange experience watching it move without his willing it to, and the happiness from Noah at having full control reverberated through both of their minds as he took over the left side as well as the right. ~If one of us focuses on computation while the other controls the body, not only will that solve our current issues but we should be able to increase our performance and multitasking ability. Now you have to control both legs. Left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right...~ Noah slowly gained speed as he began to chase Jessi who was looking behind her curiously, wondering what was taking David so long.

His plan worked even better than he expected. Not only did it simply resolve the problem, but he was able to provide Noah with a complete analysis of their surroundings as he was no longer concentrating on reacting to them. Their instantaneous communication allowed Noah to focus on everything at once without losing his concentration on the goal at hand. The continuous input of their relative position compared with their surroundings and obstacles allowed for almost flawless alacrity and maneuverability, no doubt an incredible benefit to counterbalance the occasional inconvenience of having to share a body. The two of them together caught up to Jessi, avoiding the fences and trash cans, among other obstacles in their way with newfound precision as David calculated the exact angles of movement, weight distribution and other factors, relaying the information to Noah instantaneously.


End file.
